


The Kids Are (Not) Alright

by CalmSurrender, Vallern



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-05-10 21:58:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 51,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5602540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalmSurrender/pseuds/CalmSurrender, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vallern/pseuds/Vallern
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh, Chris, and Sam got drunk and fell asleep. Ashley tried to stop the prank while Matt wasn't even on the mountain with them. Jess, Mike, and Emily tried to do something and look for Hannah and Beth instead of going back to the lodge. </p><p>They lost friends and loved ones at that night.</p><p>What if things were different?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One Year Ago

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, instead of finishing my Pitch Perfect x Pacific Rim AU I'm writing for a new fandom. I don't even own a PS4 to play the game! But I watched enough videos to be able to play it without looking at the screen, tbh. 
> 
> Anyway, this is gonna be a rewrite of the game with role reversal thrown in. If they're too OOC, I'm sorry. The characters didn't exactly have in-depth personalities in game so I tried to add my own interpretation. They also won't be looking for clues in every nook and cranny because they didn't have time to look around, unlike the players. 
> 
> I also changed some stupid things they've done in the game. (Like Jess' comment about hugging bears for example. I know she's just being sarcastic but really.) Besides, if it was up to me the story won't even happened at all because Hannah won't run outside in the middle of a blizzard. She'll hide in the bathroom or something, like normal people. 
> 
> The summary didn't make sense because I wrote that while running on one hour of sleep. And right now I can't think of anything to change it, oops.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!
> 
> Italics are thoughts or emphasis.  
> Bold are clues that they found.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fateful night where a stupid prank claimed two lives and ruined eight others.

“Oh my god! I can’t believe you actually did it!” Emily whispered at Jess.

“Shh!”

Ashley bit her lip. “Guys, are you sure? This is a bit too cruel…”

Jess scoffed at Ashley’s words. “Oh come on, she deserves it.”

“Well, it’s not her fault that she has a huge crush on Mike.” The redhead frowned.

“Look, Hannah’s been making the moves on him. So not cool. I’m just looking out for my girl.” Jess said while walking away.

Emily followed Jess towards the bedroom. “Ash, just because he’s class Prez doesn’t mean he belongs to everyone. Mike is my man.”

Mike frowned, feeling slightly offended at being talked about like he wasn’t there. “I’m not anybody’s man, Em.”

“Whatever you say, darling.”

Ashley felt so bad about what would happen to Hannah if the others got their way. She decided to look for her to warn her about the prank. Ashley hoped that she would catch up to Hannah before it was too late.

 

Hannah entered the bedroom where Mike told her to meet him. She still couldn’t believe it. _Mike Munroe had finally noticed me!_ Hannah was so glad the tattoo had its intended effect. The pain was worth it.

“Mike?” She whispered and closed the door. “It’s Hannah.”

Mike stood in the center of the room while smiling slightly. “Hey Hannah.”

Hannah smiled widely; unaware of the trap Mike had laid on.

 

Beth stared silently through the window and sighed softly. She just managed to convince a very drunk Sam and Chris to stop encouraging Josh to dance naked on the kitchen table. It was a blessing that none of the others were in vicinity when Josh drunkenly shouted that he was going to give the best show ever to Sam since they would have probably encouraged it.

 _Well_ , Beth thought bitterly, _of course you would like Sam to see you naked, eh Josh?_

It was always the source of tension between the three of them even if Josh never really understood why. Sam, ever the peacemaker, would always do nothing to rebuff him although she never encouraged him either. She didn’t want to disrupt the strained relationship between the siblings any more than it already was.

Beth was so deep in thought she nearly missed something moving between the trees. She squinted to see if the silhouette moved again. “What the… Dad said it’d be just us this weekend. Weird…” She mumbled.

The brunette turned to a sleeping Josh and rolled her eyes. Beer bottles were everywhere on the table and across Josh, Chris and Sam were passed out side by side. Chris usually went along with Josh’s antics and Sam, well… Beth figured the blonde needed liquid courage to come out to their friends about their relationship.

Sam didn’t want to do it, at first. The blonde was a private person for all of her happy-go-lucky team mom tendencies. She thought it was going to create unnecessary drama between all of them. Josh and the twins were almost always at odds with everything—mostly with Beth since Hannah was more timid and usually followed Beth along anyway— and that alone created some fractures between the ten of them since they tended to take sides whenever the siblings had their fights.

But eventually Sam caved and agreed to tell the gang about her and Beth. It was the least she could do for Beth and she felt bad for stringing Josh along since she never really firmly rejected him and his advances for the sake of being neutral. Beth also appealed to Sam’s practical side that it was better to get it over with rather than waiting for the gang to find out from other sources. That was more unnecessary drama in the table and if there was something Sam hated more than animal cruelty, it was drama. _It would be like ripping off a Band-Aid_ , Beth said, _better to do it quickly and the sting will be gone faster than if you peel it slowly_.

So they both decided that they would tell the gang on their annual getaway to the Washington’s lodge. _Besides, if they freak out it’s not like we’ll see them much anyway_ , Sam said. It was true, since they all were going to different college in a few months. Josh and Chris were already in college together and they would be sophomores soon. Sam and the twins enrolled together to a different one. Mike, Emily, and Jessica went together too, while Matt and Ashley were going to be seniors in high school.

Beth also told Sam that she felt like some people knew anyway. (Apart from Hannah, who once walked on Beth straddling a shirtless Sam in the living room. She wouldn’t meet their eyes for a few days but eventually was okay with it.) Emily, being the smartest and most observant one in the group, sometimes stared at them with a contemplating look which usually never ended well for anyone at the receiving end of it. Beth caught Ashley smiling at both of them whenever they played the ‘touchy-feely gal pals’ card. The rest had no idea about them though; Beth was pretty sure about it.

Chris snorted loudly in his sleep and it broke the brunette out of her daydreams. She stared at the three sleeping drunks and hoped they’d have gigantic hangovers in the morning. _Idiots_.

A piece of paper on the table caught Beth’s eyes. She took it and read the paper which turned out to be a note from Mike.

**Hannah,**

**You look so damn hot with that shirt… but I bet you’re even hotter out of it.**

**Come to the guest room at 2:00 A.M. ;-)**

**Mike, XXX**

“What the fuck? Is this for real? Mike dared to cheat on Emily here of all places? Seriously? And why the hell did Hannah go along with it? Damn it, I gotta find her, this sounds fishy…”

 

“Hey Mike, I got your note.” Hannah smiled shyly at Mike.

“Glad you could make it.”

Both of them smiled to each other and Mike leered at her.

“Maybe we should start with a little, you know, making out, and see where it goes from there.”

Hannah was speechless, but she quickly undid the buttons of her blouse. _Mike Munroe wants to make out with me oh my god if I’m dreaming then please don’t wake me up_ , Hannah thought happily.

Mike grinned. “Oh hell yeah.”

Emily tried to not laugh out loud at Hannah’s eagerness. _Is this seriously Hannah’s idea of making out? She’s such a virgin I got secondhand embarrassment from watching her trying to be sexy._

Hannah was down to her bra, putting her blouse on the bed when she heard… giggling? _What the hell?_

“W-what? Oh my god!” Hannah covered her chest with her arms. Jess came out of the closet while holding a selfie stick and Emily came out from behind the curtains.

“Jess?! What are you doing here?!” Hannah turned red with embarrassment and a hint of dread when she saw Emily’s expression. Emily’s face was smug and her smile was more condescending than usual.

Suddenly the door opened and Ashley entered the guest room, wide-eyed and out of breath. “Hannah! Hannah, it’s just a…”

Hannah tuned Ashley out and stared at Mike with tears in her eyes.

“How could you, Mike?”

She ran out of the room in embarrassment and betrayal. She sobbed; her heart broken with the fact that Mike used her feelings to fuel a stupid prank. And how could Jess and Emily do that to her? Weren’t they friends?

God, this was messed up.

Back in the guest room, Ashley turned to Jess, Emily, and Mike. “You guys are jerks, you know that?!” Mike looked sheepish. Jess shrugged and averted her eyes from Ashley’s accusing gaze and Emily scowled while crossing her arms. Ashley paid them all no mind while she exited the room and ran after Hannah.

 

Beth was prepared to find Hannah when she saw the girl in question running outside the lodge without a shirt. Her jaw dropped at the sight and she tried to find the others to understand what the hell was happening. She grabbed her pink jacket and Hannah’s coat and ran outside with the others who just went down from upstairs.

“Hannah!” Ashley shouted amidst the wind.

“What’s going on?! Why is she just in her bra?! And why is she running to the fucking blizzard?!” Beth shouted.

“Ugh, she can’t take a joke!” Jess grumbled.

“It was just a prank, Han!” Emily shouted towards the wood half-heartedly.

“What did you do, you pricks?!” Beth nearly lost her temper. This was the last thing she needed right now.

“We were just messing around, Beth… It wasn’t serious…” Mike scratched the back of his head.

“You guys are assholes!” Beth ran to the woods while shouting Hannah’s name. The others looked around with trepidation.

“So… should we go after her?” Mike said to no one in particular. 

"What do you think?! Let’s go!” Ashley snapped in a mix of anger and worry towards Hannah and Beth. She wasn’t usually this daring but the situation called for it and she wouldn’t let the others just stare at the mess they have made. It just wasn’t fair.

“Look, someone has to stay behind to wake up and tell Josh, Chris, and Sam what happened, okay?” Jess said. “Fuck, Josh…” The blonde cringed at the thought of telling Josh about what happened when he was asleep. _Damn, he’s gonna have a fit. Fuck this night_.

“Fine! You stay in the lodge. Em, are you coming or not?”

Emily pinched the bridge of her nose and nodded. Her guilty conscience won against her pride for once. _Ugh, I guess it was kind of our fault, but why the hell she ran to the woods? What a drama queen._

“Let’s go!”

 

Beth was out of breath, pissed off, and cold. She jumped, dodged and sprinted all the way from the lodge to… wherever this was. Unlike Hannah, Beth hated sports and preferred to sleep or play video games. She wasn’t equipped for physical exertion like this!

Flames suddenly radiated from far away. _What the fuck was that fire?! Who the fuck brings a flamethrower to the woods?!_ Christ on a cracker, tonight was fucked up. Beth was going to have very severe words with all of them after she found Hannah. Maybe some punches too, if this didn’t turn out well and her twin ended up injured or sick. She was pretty sure she could take down Jess if she tried, her freaky cheerleader strength aside, and she knew she could take down Emily from experience.

“Hannah!” _Fuck, where the hell is she? She’s gonna have hypothermia if I don’t find her soon!_

She pushed a branch out of her way and finally found Hannah. She was crouching while hugging herself. Beth let out a relieved sigh.

“Hannah!”

“H-hello?” Hannah replied nervously.

“God, you must be freezing. Here, I brought your coat. I’m so glad you’re okay.” Beth draped Hannah’s coat around the shivering girl. _Oh god, please tell me I’m not too late and she’ll be okay after some hot soup and hot shower…_

“I’m such an idiot! I’m so dumb...” Hannah babbled and sobbed at the same time. Beth’s heart broke seeing her sister in this state. Hannah was always so naïve and so deep in her own world. Most of the time, kids picked on her while they were growing up, so she had to step up and take the big sister role even if Hannah was the older one. Hannah was a terrible judge of characters and it worried Beth to no end when the time comes where she couldn’t protect Hannah anymore.

But these were their friends, and she was supposed to be safe among them.

_Some friends they are, like hell._

Suddenly, they heard a screech behind them. They looked at each other, eyes wide open in fear.

“W-what’s that?” Hannah whispered.

“I don’t know, but I have a bad feeling about this…” Beth muttered. She gritted her teeth and turned back to Hannah. “Let’s go!”

They ran to avoid whatever it was. In their haste, Hannah tripped and Beth went back to help her up. She realized her phone fell under the bridge and cursed inwardly. They continued their sprint, determined to put more distance between them and their chaser.

“Oh Jesus Christ!” At Hannah’s exclamation, Beth turned her head to see that they were standing near a cliff. _Shit, shit, shit_ , Beth screamed inwardly. Between this and her fear of heights, this night could not get worse. She held Hannah’s outstretched hand for reassurance, both for herself and Hannah. Reassurance that somehow they would escape this and soon they’ll be back at the lodge with the others.

Whatever it was, they could hear it getting closer.

“No! Shit, no!” They walked backwards, feeling trapped. “Get back!” Beth shouted towards the thing, desperately hoping that her words would convince it to leave them alone. “Fuck!”

“AAH!” Suddenly, Hannah had slipped and because of their intertwined hands, Beth was dragged down with her. Somehow, Beth was able to grab a branch before they fell. Hannah was dangling below her. The older twin sobbed and Beth felt tears welling up in her eyes. _Please, I don’t want to die, someone save me, please…_

Flames licked the air above them and it freaked them out even more. “Hold on!” Beth told Hannah.

A dark figure crouched on the edge of the cliff and stretched out his hand towards Beth. Beth was frozen in fear. This was their chaser, but on the other hand they were both dangling on the edge of the cliff and Beth wasn’t sure how long she could keep holding on to the branch.

Before she managed to do anything, the branch snapped and they both fell.

Beth could felt her spine breaking and she was too paralyzed from the pain to even scream.

_I’m sorry Hannah… Josh… I love you Sam…_

All went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ CalmSurrender](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalmSurrender/) edited this and gave me a lot of ideas so thanks a lot babe! Can't do it without you cause I'll probably throw my laptop in frustration because of the goddamn walking. So much walking in this game. It was a pain to wrote it lol.
> 
> I changed some things to make it a bit more believable (as believable as you can in a story that has Wendigo and infinite shotgun anyway). I posted Chapter 1 too, so read that and enjoy!


	2. Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang is back after that fateful night one year ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm pretty sure they're Americans? If not, well, it's my fault for not checking more thoroughly. It's not really a major plot point anyway apart from some comments here and there. Oh and I'm not American myself, so if it feels weird or if there's any mistakes about the Americanism it's all on me.
> 
> Like usual, italics is for thought and bold for clues.
> 
> Enjoy!

**TEN HOURS UNTIL DAWN**

**ASHLEY**

**PATH TO CABLE CAR STATION**

**21:02**

 

Ashley stepped out of the bus with a sigh. _It was so weird being back_ , she thought. Josh had said something about closure, and Ashley couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt about what happened to the twins a year ago.

The three of them had looked for the twins to no avail. The forest was huge and they didn’t exactly have a map. Ashley insisted that they looked around for a little longer, but the blizzard had worsen and although Ashley hated to admit it, Emily was right when she pointed out that they will be lost if they continued to search for the twins in the middle of it.

They went back to the lodge to see a hysterical Josh. He threw beer bottles around while shouting and ranting about his sisters while Chris tried to calm him down. Jess was crying and Sam…

Sam looked dead inside.

She was quiet and barely blinked when Ashley approached her. The redhead was scared; it was the first time she had seen Sam like that. Sam was usually so bright and sunny and not… not like this.

When she almost touched Sam’s shoulder to snap the blonde out of her thoughts, Josh was screaming about how this was all their fault. He tried to punch Mike and shoved Chris when the blond tried to restrain him. At this commotion, Sam snapped out of her funk and grabbed Josh’s arm when he tried to punch Mike for the second time. Josh turned his head to face Sam and broke down crying on the floor. Chris and Sam hugged him from his sides, Chris silently crying and Sam mumbling something while stroking his back.

Ashley didn’t see Sam crying at all.

They all went back down in the morning and filed a police report for missing people. After that, they kind of went their separate ways. They were all busy with school and college, although she heard from Chris that Josh took a year out of college to focus on getting better. He also told her that Josh went to see his therapist more often and started taking his meds regularly, unlike before. Ashley was relieved with that silver lining, although she felt sad that it took his sisters’ death for Josh to really seek help.

After a few months, Josh finally replied to her texts and agreed to meet up with her and Chris for lunch. He looked gaunt and pale, but he had a determined look in his eyes. He joked around with them and Ashley was glad that it felt genuine instead of his usual deflects-everything-with-humor defense mechanism.

The three of them went out with Matt for the next lunch outing, and Matt gave him a side hug and told Josh that he’s glad the older man feels better. Josh laughed and fist bumped him.

Matt was shocked and sad when Ashley told him about the incident at the lodge. Sure, he wasn’t close with the twins but they were his friends. Beth helped him a lot with Chemistry while Hannah often went jogging with him. He even blamed himself, saying that if only he went to the lodge with the others instead to his sister’s wedding, they could have an extra pair of eyes to look for Beth and Hannah. Ashley told him to not focus on what-ifs, even though sometimes –most times—she did it herself.

It took Josh another four months to finally forgive Jess and Emily and another two months for Mike, because even though it was Jess’ plan to prank Hannah, if Mike didn’t go along with it, the prank wouldn’t have even happened in the first place.

He was closer to Sam than ever. Sam lost her best friend and… well, Ashley didn’t want to assume anything but she was sure there was something going on between Beth and Sam.

The blonde jock bonded with Josh over their mutual loss and over time they leaned on each other for support. Ashley was glad because they both needed it. No one understood what it felt like to lose their family members at the same time like each other. She heard from Chris that Sam lost her parents in a house fire back when she was around ten. Ashley hadn’t met the gang yet at that time, so she didn’t really know the story and she didn’t dare to ask. No one really mentioned it either, but she knew it must be hard for the blonde. Now Sam lives with her grandparents and from what she knew from the few times she went over to Sam’s house that they were good people and very doting towards Sam.

The small redhead felt a gust of cold wind chill her to the bones and shook her head. _Now’s not the time for flashbacks, better get to the lodge soon cause I’m freezing my butt off here_.

Ashley opened the wooden fence that marked the start of the Washington’s property. She walked for a few feet before she heard a sound between the bushes.

“Hello? Is someone there?” She called out. Nothing moved. Ashley shrugged and continued walking. Eventually, she saw the iron gate ahead. When she reached to open it, she noticed a paper stuck on it.

**The gate’s busted, climb over!**

**Chris**

“What? Ugh, Josh, you invited us here but you haven’t even fixed the gate!” Ashley whined.

She walked to the wall beside the gate and gulped. Unlike Sam, she wasn’t an avid climber. She lived a sedentary lifestyle and preferred to read books and write stories. _Damn it, what if I fall?_

Ashley steeled herself and prepared to climb. She climbed as slowly as possible, but when she nearly reached the top, she slipped on snow and fell to the ground.

“Ow! Damn it, that hurts!” She winced and rubbed her butt in pain.

She groaned when she realized that she had to climb again and risk falling… again. She considered calling Chris for help before she remembered that even on this part of the mountain the signal was shaky at best. Ashley got up and tried to climb once more, this time even slower than before.

She managed to reach the top without any accident and let out a whoop. The small girl jumped down and brushed off snow from her pants.

She reached the cable car station to find Chris sitting on a bench while playing a game on his phone.

“Chris!”

He looked up and grinned widely. “Ash! Hey!”

Chris stood up and Ashley approached him. They both smiled shyly at each other. _Keep it together Ash, this is just your very good friend Chris that you have a very obvious crush on but you don’t need to make it even more obvious by staring at him and getting lost in those eyes_.

“You got here okay?”

“Yeah, but why didn’t Josh repair the gate? I fell when I climbed the wall, you know.”

“Really? Are you okay?” Chris said worriedly.

“Yeah, the only thing hurt was my pride.” Ashley joked and Chris shook his head and let out a little laugh.

“Could be worse, right? I mean the wall could’ve been taller or you could be smaller…”

“Hey! No short jokes! Besides Sam is shorter than me and you never make fun of her for that!”

“Because she’s, like, stronger than me. That girl might be fun-sized, but her strength? Damn.” Chris whistled.

“So you’re afraid of Sam but not of me?” Ashley crossed her arms.

“Naw, Ash. You’re too cute to be scary.” As if he just realized what he just said, Chris blushed and scratched his head in embarrassment.

Ashley smiled fondly at Chris. “Aww, thanks. You’re not too bad looking yourself.”

Chris beamed. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He grinned widely at her compliment. “I’d love to stay here and just chat but I’m seriously freezing here. Whaddya say we go to the lodge, have hot chocolates, and just, I don’t know, talk?”

“Sounds good to me, especially the hot chocolate part. Lead the way.”

“Sure.”

As they walked to the station, Chris saw a half-ripped wanted poster. He leaned closer to take a look.

**MILGRAM, VICTOR**

**Sex: Male**

**Height: 6’2” (1.88m)**

**Last known address: Blackwood Pines**

**Last seen: 03/16/1998**

**Wanted in connection with a first degree arson offence, as well as various death threats. Anyone with information regarding this dangerous criminal should contact BPMC as soon as possible.**

**Blackwood Provincial Mounted Constabulary**

**Police Montée Provinciale de Blackwood**

**July 1998**

“Huh… I hope he already got caught.” Chris mumbled and continued walking.

“Did you say something, Chris?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing. It’s just weird coming back up here after a whole year, right?”

“Yeah, I swear, the moment I got here it just all came flooding back.”

“A year goes fast.”

Ashley hummed and tried to open the station door. It was locked.

“That’s weird, why is it locked?”

“Josh wanted us to keep it locked, to keep people out.”

“He said that? What people?”

Chris pulled a key from his jacket. “I don’t know. He said they found people sleeping in the station one time.”

“Creepy.” She whispered, feeling a little nervous.

Chris unlocked the door and bowed slightly at Ashley.

“After you.”

She laughed and entered the station. “A real gentleman.”

He locked the door behind him and put the key back to his jacket. The cable cars were about halfway to the station, so they had to wait a bit. Ashley looked around while Chris went to the empty operator’s room.

He saw an old poster with ‘ **BLACKWOOD PINES HOTEL AND SANATORIUM. For a healthy body and mind**.’ written on it and shook his head.

“What a crazy place to set up house. No matter how rich you are.” He commented.

“They’re not so rich. They only bought a mountain!”

He snorted. “True that.”

The blond looked around some more but didn’t find anything noteworthy. The security camera didn’t show anything interesting either.

“Chris, the car’s here. You coming?”

“Yeah, wait up.”

They sat in the car side-by-side. It was quiet for some time until Ashley broke the silence.

“I hope this is the right thing to do.” She said softly.

“What?” Chris turned to face Ashley.

“You know, getting everyone together on the anniversary. I mean Josh seemed really pumped about us all doing something, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, he definitely did! I haven’t seen him so excited about something in, like, forever.” The blond smiled, happy that his best friend was doing better.

“That’s good. It will be good for his recovery too, I bet. I mean, it’s hard to tell with him, you know?”

“I get what you mean, but I’m sure he’s better now. This is a good idea, I think.”

“I hope everyone feels the same way.”

“Yeah, well, we’re all here, right?”

Ashley nodded in agreement. _This is for Josh, if it means that I have to wear at least three sweaters and no AO3 for a weekend, then it’s a small price to pay_.

“You know what? Let’s just stop talking about what happened and enjoy the trip.”

The redhead sighed. “Yeah. You’re right.”

“Hey, do you know how Josh and I met?” Chris asked, an inviting smile on his face.

“Actually, I think you never told me how. I mean I know a lot of your childhood adventures with him, but I don’t know how you two met.”

“Ok. Third Grade. Josh sat in the back of the room, I sat in the front. We didn’t even know each other existed. But the kid sitting next to Josh started strap snapping the training bra on the girl in front of him so the teacher made him move to the front where I was sitting.”

“Okay, so?”

“So I got moved to the back!”

“And?”

“And next to Josh! That’s how we met and became friends to this day.”

“A match made in heaven.” Ashley teased him. She expected a more exciting story, but she guessed it was just her book –okay, fan fiction– loving speaking. This was real life after all. _Of course they met in a mundane way like that, did you expect they met while fighting pirates or something?_

Chris laughed. “If it weren’t for the fact that Jeanie Simmons hit puberty like three years early and on that day decided to wear a low cut shirt that showed off her training bra, I mean who knows? You could be riding in this cabin car alone right now or talking to some other person entirely. Boom. Butterfly effect.”

 

* * *

 

 

**JESS**

**UPPER CABLE CAR STATION**

**21:17**

 

Jess sat on a bench while waiting for the next arrival. She closed her book when she heard the sound of cable car arriving and muttered excitedly. “Oh boy oh boy oh boy. New people. Time to meet and greet.”

This was the first friend gathering she’d have after starting dating Mike a month ago. Things were getting more serious between them, and Jess was starting to really care for him. Sure, he could be a douche sometimes but hey, nobody’s perfect.

Chris banged on the glass which made her jump. “Ah! What the hell?”

“Jess! Hey!”

“Jessica! Over here!” Ashley waved.

It seems the both of them were trapped inside the cable car. “Uh, are you guys okay?”

“We’re stuck in this stupid thing.” Chris groaned.

“Can you please let us out? Pretty please?” Ashley batted her eyelashes to Jess.

Jess pressed the lock button to unlock the car door. The door opened and Chris walked out and took a deep breath.

“Oh my god, I thought we were goners. Another ten minutes in there and I would have chewed off my own leg.”

“Ew, Chris, that’s so gross.” Ashley wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“Look! I got a lot of meat on my bones.” He gestured to his legs. “This is all muscle down here.”

“Uh-huh.”

Jess paid them both no mind and decided to look at her note for Mike again instead. _What a bunch of dorks. They’re so perfect for each other, if only Chris has the balls to tell Ash. Or Ash to tell Chris, because this is 2015 and obviously Ash could make a move first if she wants to, duh. But seriously, this will they won’t they crap has been going on for too long. Everyone knows they like each other, I don’t even know what’s holding them back from getting together. If they haven’t get together yet this year I’m gonna lose the bet—_

“Gotcha!” Chris grabbed the note from Jess’ hands, breaking her inner monologue.

“Hey!”

“Well, well, well… what do we have here?”

“Chris!”

“My goodness!” He fake gasped. “Seems that someone has a lil’ crush on our good friend and dear class president Michael Munroe!” He grinned. “And what kind of sizzling erotica might our dear Jessica Stratford be capable of imagining? I wonder…” He moved to open the envelope.

“Mike and Em split. We’re together.” The blonde said quickly and defensively. _Ugh, he’s probably gonna judge me_. Jess and the nerds had never got along too well because of different personalities (with Ashley) and sense of humor (with Chris).

“Whoa, drama.” _Wait, what? Isn’t that against friendship code to go after your friend’s ex? What the hell, Jessica. No wonder Emily got bitchier than ever in the group chat. So that’s why_.

“Not really. Pretty clear cut, actually. Em’s out, I’m in.” Jess grabbed her note from Chris’ hand. _Judge all you want, Chris. At least I’m not a pussy who willingly stays in the friend zone_.

“Alright alright, let’s just get up to the lodge already. Getting tired of all this nature and junk.” _Man, I’m so not looking forward for the cat fight in the lodge. I hope it won’t come to that, but who knows_.

Jess hesitated. “You guys go ahead, I’m just gonna wait here for a bit, see who else is coming.”

“You mean Mike?” Chris asked cheekily.

“What? I mean, you know, whoever.” She tried to play it cool but it didn’t work from the look on Chris’ face.

“Uh huh. Ash?” He turned to Ashley who was standing near the short wooden barrier while looking at the mountains.

“Look at this view! I wish my brother didn’t borrow my camera. It looks so good. Sometimes I forget to just stop and take in the view, you know?” Ashley looked around in wonder.

“Hipster.” Chris muttered under his breath.

“I heard that!” She gave him a light punch on his arm. Chris just laughed and stuck his tongue out to Ash. _Ugh, get a room already_. Jess rolled her eyes and watching them walked animatedly to the lodge, hoping Mike would get here soon.

 

* * *

 

**EMILY**

**WASHINGTON LODGE GROUNDS**

**21:24**

 

“Seriously, couldn’t they have built the lodge like right where the cable car ends?” Emily grumbled while Matt closed the gate behind her.

“I don’t think it would have been, like, as pretty, you know?” He said while lifting Emily’s bags. Emily ignored him. “And where’s the bellboy when you need one!” She shook her head in exasperation. “Brr. Getting’ chills…”

“We’re almost there, Em.” Matt reassured her.

“No, I mean… getting’ kinda creeped out.”

“Oh.”

“Gonna be weird seeing everyone up here again.” Emily wondered out loud. She already regretted coming here and abandoning sunny and warm LA, not to mention her mansion and civilization in general.

She guessed it was a last minute decision decided by her conscience. As much as she liked to pretend she didn’t have one, she actually did and it was really, really annoying. Sure, she owed Josh and she felt bad for him from losing his sisters—Emily ignored the pain in her chest from the thought of Beth’s untimely demise— but she should be studying for college because her 4.0 GPA won’t maintain itself. She also needed to get some new clothes because some wannabe bitches tried to outdo her in the fashion department when they found out they couldn’t compete with her grade-wise. Unlike them, she managed to get into the honor roll without sucking anyone’s dick. Or eating pussy, whichever.

The point was she got good grades from studying and pure skill, not by spreading her legs like those dumb sluts. Of course they also spread the rumor that she bribed the professors and even the Dean to modify her grades, but she supposed that’s why it is lonely at the top. Everyone was jealous of her, like they should be. She was the best and she’ll be damned if they ever forgot it—

Oh right, Matt was talking. Sometimes she forgot he was there.

“…initely not gonna feel like a regular party.” Matt agreed. While he didn’t really know the details about last year’s prank, save from the tidbits that Ash shared during their study sessions, he understood that it made Emily uncomfortable whenever he tried to ask her about it. “I mean, what do you think—“

“RAGH!”

“Woah, dude!”

“JESUS!”

Mike laughed loudly when he saw Matt and Emily nearly pissed their pants from his jump scare. He knew ambushing them was a great idea. “You guys!” He laughed a bit more when he saw Emily’s expression.

“MICHAEL!”

“You really, really should have seen your faces right there!”

“Dude, I almost clocked you just now.” Matt spluttered; his heart hadn’t gotten back to its normal rate yet.

“Michael, you’re a jerk.”

“Come on guys, we’re all friends here, right? No need for violence, just a little harmless fun!” He gestured to his surroundings. “We’re up in the woods! Come on, let’s get into the spirit of things!”

“The spirit of things? Seriously? What’s wrong with you?” Emily scoffed. _Goddamnit Michael, why can’t you stop being such a tool? Jesus Christ_.

“Just trying to lighten the mood, Em. Don’t be like that.” _Aw come on, it was funny! She never appreciated my jokes…_

“Like what?” _Ugh, he thought he was being funny? Did his mother drop him on his head when he was a baby or something?_

“The way you’re being… You always get like this.” _See, if it were Jess, she’d be laughing and pranking me back instead of being annoyed. Em’s always so uptight, ugh_.

Matt felt a bit uncomfortable with their interaction. It just reminded him that Emily and Mike used to be a thing up until a month ago. So he tried his best to be patient and try to defuse the situation.

“Mike… I’m just gonna lay it out, otherwise this whole weekend’s gonna suck ass for everyone.” He sighed. “This is super awkward and we all know it. Let’s just acknowledge it now and move on. Okay?” _There, I said it. Elephant in the room addressed, let’s move on_.

“I hear you, man. I get it. I don’t wanna make this weird either.” _Whew, thank fuck Matt is a sane one. Well, as sane as you could be to date Em willingly without expecting anything. What a weirdo_.

Matt smiled slightly at Mike. “Cool. So we’re good?”

“All good.” Matt felt relieved. _Glad we didn’t piss each other off because I’m not sure I want to fight Mike in front of Emily. Either she’ll be pleased that two guys fought because of her or she’ll be annoyed and withhold sex or something. It’s hard to tell with her_.

Emily looked back and forth at Matt and Mike. “You guys gonna make out now?” She smirked. _Now that’s a total turn-on…_

“Totally.” He blew a kiss at Matt who caught it and winked at him. “Well no, I’m gonna go check on the cable car back down the trail. Sorry to disappoint, Em.” Emily’s lips twitched in an effort to hold back a smile. _I forgot that this asshole can be endearing at times_.

“See ya, man.”

“See ya.” Mike waved at them and walked towards the station.

They continued to walk towards the lodge in silence before Emily broke it with her musing.

“Soooo, you and Mike, huh? Kinda hot.”

The tall jock smiled jovially. “Well, if I had to pick a dude.”

 

* * *

 

**JESSICA**

**UPPER CABLE CAR STATION**

**21:41**

 

Jess looked at her watch impatiently. _Where the hell is Mike? It’s so cold up here!_ She sighed and decided to continue her book since her phone had no signal.

She just opened her latest chapter when a snowball hit the wall beside her head. “Ahh!” _What the actual fuck?!_ She turned to the source of snowball throwing. “Oh you did not just do that!”

“Put your hands where I can see ‘em! We’ve got you surrounded!” Mike said playfully in an exaggerated Southern accent.

Jess went along with him. Mike’s playful side was one of her favorite parts of him, even if it was annoying at times. She slowly stood from the bench while putting her hands in the air. “But who am I to retaliate? What choice do I, a supple young rebel girl have but to surrender to the strapping military guard that has come to take me custody?” She slowly walked towards him and discretely hid a snowball behind her back while grinning. _Oh Michael, you’re gonna regret this when I own your ass_.

“Well, I dunno, when you put it like that…” Jess laughed and broke into a run. “Hey!”

They threw snowballs at each other, Mike completely missing Jess and Jess hitting Mike the entire time. She was having the time of her life, seeing the super jock and class president Michael Munroe covered with snow and losing to her. She was truly the snow queen. _Fuck yeah! Suck on that, Elsa!_

Mike finally jumped on Jess, breaking her from her mind rendition of Let It Go and brought gently to the ground. “Gotcha! You’re going down!” He boasted atop Jess.

“So, did I go down?” She asked, her tone dripping with double entendre. _Mmm, can’t wait to go down on this fine piece of man meat. Yummy._

“Uh, I don’t think so.” _Fuck, she’s so hot but this place is too cold to bang, as much as I want to_.

“Mmm… I think you’d know so if I did.”

“Alright, alright.” Mike conceded.

“My my, so are we calling it my favor, then?” She grinned up at Mike.

“You’re a worthy opponent, Ms. Jessica the Snowball Queen.” _Heh, can’t wait to see what the Queen can do with her hands other than handling snowballs_.

“Okay, that sounds vaguely dirty.” _I’m pretty sure there’s a dick joke somewhere in that statement but this is too cold for witty banter_.

“My lady.”

Mike leaned down towards Jess, who caught Mike’s lips instead. They continued to kiss until Mike leaned back to catch his breath. “Wow. Save some for later, buddy.” She had to admit, he was such a great kisser. _Can’t wait to see what that talented tongue can do to me_.

“Endless reserves.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “But we really should get up to the lodge.” _Seriously, fuck Canadian winter, man. I don’t want to get literal blue balls_.

“Yeah. It’s so nice out here though—“She looked at Mike. “—pretty breathtaking.” _Wow, Jess, are you for real? Might as well looking at sunset together and tell him he’s beautiful when he’s asking about the view. Maybe I caught some dork virus from the nerds_.

Mike laughed and helped Jess stand up. They smiled at each other and walked together to the lodge, hand-in-hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to capture the teenage douchebaggery in their inner thoughts. Hope it works, lol. And all the lusty thoughts that Jess/Mike and Em/Matt had made me laugh so hard because they're so thirsty it's hilarious. 
> 
> In my headcanon, Emily and Beth were frenemy/rival. They competed with each other for the best grades but they also enjoy bitching at each other and hanging out with each other. They're vitriolic best buds, to borrow TV Tropes term. Hard to show here because, you know, what's with Beth being dead and all.
> 
> I also don't think Em cheated on Matt with Mike. Sure, she said that when she was dangling at the fire tower if you picked the option instead of trying to save her, but she was distressed and afraid, so I think she'd say anything as long as Matt will pull her up. Same with her line of treating him like a human being if Matt didn't see her with Mike through the telescope.
> 
> Jess' surname came from Meaghan Martin's role as Bianca Stratford in 10 Things I Hate About You. I originally wanted to use Mitchell, as a reference for her role in Mean Girls 2, but it reminded me of Beca Mitchell from Pitch Perfect so it's just weird, lol.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the story! Next chapter should be out in a few days.


	3. Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feelings are hard, especially for a bunch of dysfunctional teenagers.

**NINE HOURS UNTIL DAWN**

**CHRIS**

**WASHINGTON LODGE GROUNDS**

**22:00**

 

“Man I feel like this mountain gets bigger every time I climb it.” Chris panted.

“Oh yeah? Feels the same to me.” Josh laughed.

“Dude, you grew up here. It probably feels like it’s shrinking.”

“I guess that’s true.”

The blond pulled out his phone and made a face. “When are you gonna install some cell towers up here? I’m getting withdrawals already.” _Goodbye for two long days, internet. I shall miss you, darling. I won’t forget our adventures, even if incognito mode said so_.

Josh snorted. “You got a spare million lying around and I’ll fix you right up. _” Sorry bro, parental unit will kick my ass if I so much as dropped a hint that I want Wi-Fi here. It’s a miracle they allowed me to come here in the first place._

“I think I left them on my other jacket…”

“Hey guys. Get up here okay?” Josh greeted Sam, Emily, and Matt. “Sorry for making you wait, though, Sammy. I mean we got here together but I left you to deal with the peanut gallery.” He grinned at Emily who just rolled her eyes at him. _Aw, Em. What would I do without your trademark bitchiness? Live a happier life, probably._

“That’s okay, Josh. So it’s just Jess and Mike left?” Josh nodded. He and Chris went up to unlock the lodge door, leaving the others catching up. He was feeling hopeful; being back here again brought unpleasant memories, but he was glad his friends were there with him.

“Yo yo yo! Are we gonna get things moving up here or what?” Chris asked, bringing him back to Earth.

“Yeah man! I’m so excited, for real. Hope the weather will get better tomorrow so we can fire up the grill.”

Chris fist pumped the air at the mention of the grill but quickly sobered up. “Hey, you doin’ alright? I mean I know it must be really tough without your sis—“

“Stop.” Josh held up his hand to stop Chris from speaking. He was such a good friend, but sometimes his concern was too much for Josh. _Chris, I love you, but sometimes you really need to shut up and let it go_.

“I just meant that—“

“No I know what you meant. Seriously, I’m over it, and I just want us to have a good time, you know? I just want us to chill and watch shitty movies while eating hot dogs and those gross tofu burgers that Sammy likes, okay?” _It doesn’t bother me anymore, honest. Beth doesn’t scream at me and Hannah doesn’t cry in my ears as long as I keep up with the pills. Therapy help too, even if I don’t want to admit it. Fucking Dr. Hill. I wonder if it’s okay to buy him a beer or two as an expression of ‘thanks for making me fucked up instead of severely fucked up’_.

“Yeah dude, my bad.” Chris felt guilty for bringing it up. He had been so worried this year, especially when he didn’t hear from Josh for months. When Josh got back, he didn’t tell Chris where he went either, but Chris figured Josh will tell him sooner or later. They were bros after all. Bros told each other everything.

“It’s cool, Cochise.” Josh unlocked the door. “Guys! Come in and let’s party like we’re fucking porn stars, okay?!”

Emily laughed and entered the lodge.” What the fuck, Josh? Party like we’re fucking porn stars? Do you want us to have an orgy or something?”

“Maybe.” He waggled his eyebrows playfully at Emily. “We can talk about the orgy once we’re all inside, I think my balls are gonna fall off.”

Josh waited until they all came inside and closed the door behind him. “Jesus, you think with how much time I used to spend here I’d be used to the cold already.” He rubbed his arms. “I’m gonna start the fire, you guys go sit or put your bags wherever.”

Matt flicked the lights on. “Man, it’s so dim here.”

“Sorry Matty-boy, haven’t changed the bulbs in a long time. But at least Sammy and I restocked the fridge!” Josh replied cheerfully. “Well, mostly Sammy. I just brought a shit ton of beers and sweets.” _Remember to stop after two bottles, Washington. No need to repeat the same disaster_.

“If I leave food restocking duty to you we are all gonna have diabetes, Josh. Pop-Tarts aren’t food.”

“Celery sticks aren't either!”

“They're healthy!”

“They’re gross!” 

Chris chuckled at their familiar bickering and turned to Ashley. “Hey, want some of the hot chocolate I told you about earlier?”

Ashley beamed at Chris. “Sure, I’ll help!”

“Nah, it’s okay. You just sit and chill, I’ll bring my kickass hot chocolate to you in a minute.”

“That sounds intriguing. I hope it lives up to its name.” Ashley laughed.

“You just wait and see.” The blond saluted mockingly and went to the kitchen to prepare hot chocolates for her and the others since they would probably badger him if he only made it for Ashley. Thanks to Josh’s sweet tooth, the kitchen was full of sweets and chocolate. Chris located an unopened bag of cocoa powder and put it on the table. He turned on the stove and tapped his feet impatiently while waiting for the water to heat.

“What are you doing, man?”

Chris turned to see Matt opening the fridge and drinking half a bottle of water. “Hey dude. Just making some hot chocolates for everyone. It’s really cold here.”

“Great! I could really use some. I’ll help you bring them out when they’re done.”

“Thanks, man.”

Chris was searching around the cabinet to find more sugar when Matt spoke up. “You think Josh is doing okay?”

The blond turned to Matt. “Definitely. I mean he was so excited when Sam mentioned the lodge and he took it like we should get back here to get closure, I don’t know.”

“Wait, what?”

“Well I don’t really remember since it was, like, two months ago, but she asked about what the Washington would do about the lodge since, y’know, it has bad memories attached to it.” Chris rubbed his chin. “Josh said his parents wanted to sell it but he was kinda reluctant about it since this place has a lot of happy memories about his sisters too. Yeah, we know that Josh didn’t always get along with the twins, but they were still his sisters, you know? He doesn’t want their memories just forgotten like that.” He sighed. “So Josh got the idea that we should come here and get some closure, especially for him.”

“Man, that’s… that’s weirdly sweet.” Matt was surprised, it didn’t sound like the Josh he knew at all, but then again it’s not like he knew that much about him since they never hung out without the others. He supposed the year apart from everything had helped him see everything in a more mature way.

“I know, right?”

“Yeah, man. He’s lucky he has you and Sam, you know?”

“Thanks, dude. And don’t tell anyone, but I wish he and Sam would… I don’t know, get together. They’re like, super close now. And they deserve some happiness.”

“Well, Josh has already drooled over Sam ever since he was in eighth grade, so it’s up to Sam to be honest. And shouldn’t you do the same with Ash?” Matt smirked. _Chris, you hypocrite_.

“What! How did this get to Ash and I?” Chris blurted, caught off guard.

“Cause you want Josh to get together with his dream girl and don’t tell me you didn’t see the parallel between them and you and Ash.”

“Dude!” Chris blushed. “Well yeah, but we’re good friends, you know? I don’t want to make it weird or anything. What if it doesn’t work out?” Chris was nervous. His feelings for Ashley was really strong and what happened that night had brought them even closer than before. They were each other’s support and he was afraid of losing that, even if sometimes it felt like she felt the same way. _Or maybe I’m just deluding myself and my mind sees what I want to see_.

“You’ll never know until you try it, man. And just FYI, a lot of guys in school would like to tap that because you’ve been gone for a while and no one has ever seen her dating anyone, you know?”

“Wait, seriously?” _What?! I don’t want her to date some random guy that could hurt her!_

“Yeah. I don’t think she realized it because she holed up in the library a lot but I’ve heard a lot of my teammates talking about her. I mean, they sometimes asked me about her because they know we have study sessions twice a week.” _Man, why is he surprised? Ash is cute and smart; of course she’s bound to attract some guys. Hell, I’d try my luck if I wasn't taken and she wasn't hung up on him._

“Ah, man.” Chris removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I’ll… I’ll think about it, okay?” _Shit, maybe I do need to tell her before it is too late. She won’t stay single forever, Chris_.

“Sure, man. Thought I’d let you know before it’s too late.” Matt was rooting for them. He told Ashley he ‘shipped’ them to her amusement and embarrassment. After so many study sessions with a book nerd like Ash, you pick up some things.

 

* * *

 

 

**MATT**

**WASHINGTON LODGE**

**22:15**

 

“Hot chocolates incoming! Move, people!” Matt yelled as he and Chris brought four cups each and put them all on the coffee table.

“Okay, so extra sugar for Josh and Jess, no milk for Sam, extra milk for Mike and Matt, no sugar for Em, and these are for Ash and yours truly.” Chris pointed out to each appropriate cup. They quickly grabbed their cups and gave Chris their thanks.

“Cochise, brother, you’re a fucking lifesaver, you know that?” Josh slurped on his drink noisily. _Sweet, sweet sugar rush, how I missed thee._

“Thank you, thank you, I accept payment in cash and credit.”

Chris sat beside Ashley and offered a cup to her. She took it with a smile and drank it. “Wow Chris, what did you put in it?”

“A little bit of whipped cream and cinnamon, only for you. Well, and me.” He whispered.

“Thanks, Chris.” Ashley smiled. Chris felt his heart fluttered. “Really. You’re the best.”

“I know.” He couldn’t help but think back to his conversation with Matt, contemplating what he should do. _I really need to man up and tell her. C’mon, Chris, what’s the worst that could happen? She’d say no, things get awkward for a few weeks, and after that everything will get back to normal… or not. What if she laughs at me? Fuck, feelings are hard. How did you do that, people with significant others?!_

They continued to drink in silence—with some background cursing from Josh who was still trying to get the fire going—when the door opened.

“What’s up party people!”

“Heeey!”

“Hey! Thought you both got eaten by a bear. Anyway, there are hot chocolates left for you guys, courtesy of Chris. Be glad I didn’t drink yours, Jess.” Josh chuckled.

“Oh my gosh, thank you sooooo much, Chris!” Jess squealed. She grabbed the cup and sat as far as she could from Emily and Matt. Mike followed suit with his cup and sat beside Jess.

Emily snuggled up to Matt while discretely giving Jess the stink-eye. Of course, she had forgotten about that bimbo. _Look at her skanky face, all smug and preening. Have fun enjoying my leftovers, bitch. He wasn’t even that good in bed! Who the fuck cums after two minutes of dick sucking? Either I’m too good or he’s a premature ejaculator. Ha!_

The braided blonde did the same and soon they were glaring openly at each other, to the discomfort of Matt and Mike. Jess nearly stood up but she got distracted by the crackling fire and Josh whooping in delight. Mike subtly pulled her back to the couch and sighed inwardly when she sat back down. _Nope, no cat fights tonight, ladies. Please. Even if it’s hot_.

The fire soon warmed them up. Emily could feel herself growing a bit sleepy, so she disentangled her arms from around Matt and went to take her bags.

“Where’s my bag?” _What the… I swear it was here. Matt brought all of my bags with him, didn’t he?_

“Huh?”

“My bag! The little bag with the pink pattern! The one I got on Rodeo!” On his confused expression, Emily rolled her eyes and continued her tirades. “Matt are you listening? Oh my god, don’t you remember? Next to the Italian shoe place where I got the stilettos and you knocked over the rack while you were drooling all over the girl at the counter?”

“Well, I mean she was asking about my letter jacket—“

“Right. Because she gave a shit about your “designer” letter jacket.” Emily made an air quote and rolled her eyes. _God I fucking hate that jacket. I told him I’d buy him a better one but he looked offended like I just spat on his mother’s face. I just don’t want him to dress like a mix of gym rat and basement dweller, because hello, talk about secondhand embarrassment. Is football that important? Jesus Christ, men and their balls, I swear to God._

“Why do you hate my jacket?” He pouted. Damn, it was a cool jacket and he was so proud of it. So what if it was a little ratty, he got it when he made team at his freshman year!

“Matt! I need my bag!”

“Oh my god Em, maybe you just forgot it—“

“Do you seriously think I’d forget my bag?” _Oh my god, this guy_.

“Well, I—“

“Do you?”

Matt sighed heavily. “Guess not.” _I guess she probably has something important in the bag if she’s being this persistent._

"You must have left it down by the cable car station.”

“Ugh.” He groaned, thinking about how cold it would be to trek back all the way there again. _The things I do for lo— I mean sex. Sex._

“C’mon, hon. We’ll be back soon.”

“And then we can get warm?”

Emily smiled coyly at him. “We can get very warm.” _Especially with the things in the bag, you musclehead_.

“Well… okay, let’s go.”

With that, they left the cabin.

“God, I thought she’ll never leave.” Jess moaned. She couldn’t stand to be near Emily for so long. Not after what happened when Mike and her told the black haired girl about their relationship. _Fuck that bitch. It’s a wonder Matt didn’t get his dick shattered by her frigid ass._

“Don’t be like that, Jess.” _Whoop, crisis averted._

“It’s just that, she’s pissing me off, you know?” Jess sighed. “Can we not stay here tonight? I don’t want to see her any more than necessary.” She whispered to Mike.

He shrugged and approached Josh. “Josh, you have any room that's far away from Em and Matt?”

“Well, why don’t you check out the guest cabin instead?” Josh asked, distracted with the fire and looking at his empty glass with a longing look.

“Alright. Thanks, man.”

“No problem. Just make sure you clean up after taking Jess to the bone zone. Dried jizz is super gross.” _I’m all for being a good host, but I’d rather punch myself in the balls than cleaning after other people’s body fluids. Ew._

Mike laughed. “Will do, boss.”

Josh stood up and tossed Mike the keys. “Almost forgot. Gotta fire up the generator so you can see where you’re going.”

“Roger that.”

He waved them off and closed the door.

 

* * *

 

 

**MIKE**

**WASHINGTON LODGE GROUNDS**

**22:43**

 

“Hey, Hot Lips! Photobooth?” Jess beckoned Mike closer.

“Alright! Read my mind.”

He put an arm around her waist and looked at the camera. They took a selfie together and Jess was pleased that Mike took a good shot. “Oh my god. This is perfect. We’re like, the cutest couple!” _I’m definitely putting this on Instagram when we get home. That’ll show her_.

“Damn!” Mike whistled when he saw the photo. “You should be a model.” _Ooh, wonder if I can ask her for some tits pics. Gotta have some spank bank material when she can’t get down and dirty._

“You keep that camera handy and I’ll let you start my portfolio… at the cabin.” She said seductively.

Mike winked. “Noted.”

They walked in silence when Mike piped up. “You okay, Jess?”

“Huh? Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

“I mean with, you know, Em.”

Jess scowled. “Michael! Why did you have to bring her up? Way to ruin my mood.” She tried to ignore the twinge of guilt that hit her when Mike mentioned Emily. _I shouldn’t feel guilty, they’ve already broken up when Mike asked me out. It’s not like I took him away from her when they were dating!_

Mike threw his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry, it’s just that maybe you could cool it down with Em?” Even if the thought of them fighting over him was hot, he kind of regretted that he got in the middle of their friendship. Emily and Jess were already kind of drifted apart even before that night—high school bullshit and petty dramas in their different circles of friends if Mike had to guess— but the stupid prank ruined everything and made them drift apart even more.

Well, he didn’t regret that he was with Jess now, even if he sometimes missed Emily. At least Jess wasn’t that bossy and she wasn’t into weird shit like Emily was.

“Michael! I didn’t do anything! She was the one that gave me the evil eye first!” She pouted and crossed her arms. _Like hell I can ignore her when she’s all up in my biz with that sneer!_

“Yeah, but you could’ve just ignored her. Look, the point of this trip is for Josh, okay? So let’s just… not fight if you can help it.”

Jess groaned. “Fine! But that bitch better not provoke me too much or I won’t be able to hold back.” She hated it when he was right.

“That’s all I ask, babe.”

They went to turn the generator on and unlock the gate. Jess played a song from her phone to ward off the silence. “You psyched yet? You don’t look psyched yet!”

“I am so psyched right now!”

“It’s like a little adventure!” Jess skipped. “A sexcapade, if you will.” Mike laughed at her words.

They came across a police tape wrapped around a tree and stopped walking.

“Police tape…”

“From Hannah and Beth.” _Oh shit._

“You’d think they’d clean it up.” Jess said, clearly feeling uncomfortable. Oh god, she knew coming back here was a bad idea. She hadn’t deal at all with what happened. _This is so not good_.

“Well, they never really closed the investigation.”

“Okay, I’m getting the creeps now.”

Mike bit his lips. “Well, wherever they are, I’m sure they’re happy we’re all thinking about them.” _Beth, Hannah, sorry you’re still missing._

“That’s a nice way of thinking about it.” Jess said, feeling a little bit comforted by the sentiment.

Mike nodded and they continued walking. Suddenly, they heard a loud screech. It didn't sound like any animal Mike knew.

“Did-did you hear that?” _What the fuck, I’m so not here for this_.

“I heard… something. Yeah.” Mike looked around trying to find the source of the sound, but all he could see were trees and nothing else. _Shit, what if it’s a bear? I can’t remember if we should run or play dead! Jesus, this is creepy._

They continued to walk, but this time the unease was palpable between them. Between the police tape and the weird screech, tonight was not really looking good in Mike’s book.

They came across a blockage. “Damn, I don’t think we can get up to the cabin with the path blocked like this.”

“What’s the alternative, going back to the lodge and drink hot chocolate with Emily? Nuh-uh. No way am I doing that, Michael.” Jess was facing Mike so she didn’t see where she was going and accidentally broke a wooden fence. “AHH!”

“JESS! Fuck!” Mike shouted. “Hey Jessica!” _Oh my god, what the hell?!_

“Yep! I’m okay!” _Ow, fuck! Shit, at least I don't have any splinters on me._

“Holy crap you scared the heck out of me.” Mike sighed in relief. _Oh thank fuck she’s okay, I don’t know what I should do if she passed out or something._

“How do you think I felt?!” Jess shouted in exasperation.

“Er, you didn’t hit your head or anything?”

“As far as I can tell I still have all seven of my limbs!”

Mike chuckled. “Yeah, can you get out?”

“I don’t know. I can hardly see anything down here.”

Mike pondered things for a moment. “Alright, comin’ after ya, just stay put!” He jumped down to the mine. “Umph.” She was right; he couldn’t see anything beyond his own feet. He was so glad he came prepared and brought a flashlight with him. 

Mike shone the flashlight and soon they both could see a bit better. “Hey handsome, wanna help me move this cart thing?” Jess gestured towards a cart that blocked their way.

“Alright.” He tried to push the cart with all his strength, but it wouldn’t even budge. “Help me move it?”

“Okay.”

With Jess’ help, the cart finally moved to open a path. “When I imagined us grunting together, this is not what I pictured.” Mike groaned. _This has to count as foreplay, Jesus fuck._

Suddenly a cart was rolling towards them. “Whoa whoa whoa!” Mike barely managed to slow it down with his body and moved out of the way.

“Holy crap! Oh my gosh, are you okay?”

He groaned and put his hand on his aching lower back. “Ugh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” He rubbed it and continued walking. _Geez, that was close, thank god for my muscles._

“Woah nellie, this place is givin’ me the willies. And not the good kind of willies.”

“Can I offer you a little comfort and reassurance?” Mike flirted, trying to get his mind off the situation at hand.

Jess laughed. “Save it for the cabin, buster.”

They looked around and Mike came across a stub of cigar. “Huh. Stogie.”

“Weird place to hang out and smoke cigars.” Jess commented. _Who the hell hangs out in a mine to smoke cigars? What a freak._

“It’s recent. Wonder who was up here.” Mike shone his flashlight around the nook. “Whoa.” There was a wall with a weird symbol on it. “This place is like, historical.” _What’s with the weird symbol and stogie? Shit, does that mean there’s someone else in this mountain other than us? And why the hell is he smoking cigars down here?_

“Holy bat cave.”

“It’s gotta be Native American, right?”

“I don’t think the miners were getting their art’n’crafts on, no.”

“It’s like a shrine or something—AHH!” A wooden log fell and nearly hit Mike. Had he taken another step, it would’ve hit his head. “Shit!” He took a step back. _Jesus hot sauce Christmas cake, what if that hit my head?! Fucking hell._ “I don’t think this place is up to code.”

“Yeah, I’m thinking it’s time to go.” They both agreed and continued to walk. Mike felt more alert than usual, his eyes darted left and right in search for anything out of place. _This mine is giving me the creeps; we gotta get out of here soon._

Mike saw a map of the mine on the table. “Jesus. This place is a real fixer upper. Jess, look at this.”

Jess looked at the map and made a face. “You don’t think we’re in the dangerous part, are you?”

“I don’t think so, but I don’t think I want to know.”

“Me neither. C’mon, let’s go.” Jess hurried Mike up. Nothing good would come from staying in the mine for too long. Besides she was getting tired and sleepy, not to mention cold.

“Alright.” Jess led the way while Mike shone the flashlight behind her. They walked through a claustrophobia-inducing tunnel before they heard the sound of wind blowing and saw a ray of light. “Finally, a little ray of hope!”

They finally got out of the mine and into the forest. Mike felt so relieved he took a deep breath in an effort to relax. _This is definitely not going how I planned it._

They walked in silence and Mike was happy when he finally saw a wooden post with the word ‘CABIN’ written on it. _At least we’ll have the place to ourselves soon._

“Well, well. When Josh said ‘cabin’ I thought like, Abe Lincoln.”

“Wait till you see the Lincoln Bedroom.”

“Oh, are you planning on getting presidential on me?”

“Wanna take a ride on Air Force One?”

Jess laughed. She loved their flirty banter. “Alright, alright, save it for the stump speech, buddy—ooh, a telescope!” She said excitedly. “Gonna look at the trees… gonna look at the clouds… gonna look at the cabi—Uh. Whoa.” She took a step back from the telescope. _Was there someone…?_

“Y’alright?”

“I just saw someone at the cabin.”

“Okay? Let me see.” Mike looked through the telescope and saw nothing. “I don’t see anything, Jess—“An inhuman face flashed and he took a step back, unsure of what he just saw. _The fuck was that?! That’s like some shit straight out of The Walking Dead!_

Deciding against telling Jess about it so she wouldn’t freak out, Mike turned back and shone his flashlight to a board near them. _Holy shit this area has wolves and bears._ “Hey Jess?”

“What’s up?”

“Stay close by, okay?” Mike bit his lip, worried.

“Not that I mind, but why?”

“Uh, this posting says there’s some brown bears up here sometimes."

“Yikes. I’m glad we haven’t run across one so far.” _First the tape, the screech, falling down that fucking mine, and now bears? Was it because I didn’t forward that chain email five years ago? Were internet trolls condemning me to seven years of bad luck?!_

“Don’t jinx it, babe.” Suddenly, an owl was hooting and flying near Mike’s face. “EEK!”

“Watch out, bird-brain!” Jess laughed at Mike’s shriek. He can be such a coward sometimes. It was hilarious.

“I was just… answering its mating call.” He shrugged and tried to appear as nonchalant as possible even though the bird scared the shit out of him. _Stupid owls, Harry Potter said that they were tame and friendly. I should sue Rowling. Ugh._

“Wow, you’re easy.”

“Yeah. Got a lotta love to give.” Jess snorted at Mike’s attempt to be nonchalant but let it go. She walked away and didn’t hear Mike mumbling to himself, “I was scared.”

They ran to another blockade. “Goddamnit Josh, couldn’t you have at least cleared out the path before sending us up here?” _Why are there so many blockades here? Is nature trying to cockblock us?_

“Really?”

“What?”

“I didn’t figure you for the glass half empty type.”

“You got better idea?”

“Stand back, Debbie Downer.” Jess chuckled. _And they say men are the braver and stronger sex._

Jess stretched her arms and ran towards the tree that blocked the path. She climbed it with ease, agility born of years being a cheerleader showing.

“Boo! Show off!”

“Hey Mike. You got something on your face.” Mike rubbed his face and Jess pelted him with a snowball. “Boom!”

“Okay, okay. If that’s how it’s gonna be.” He searched the ground to look for snow.

When he looked up, Jess was nowhere to be found.

“Jess?” _What the fuck?_

A scream was his only answer.

 

* * *

 

 

**JOSH**

**WASHINGTON LODGE**

**22:44**

 

“So what do you guys want to do now that half of the peanut gallery isn’t here?” Josh asked while sprawled on the couch.

“Didn’t you tell me that you have an Ouija board?” Sam said from her place near Josh’s legs.

“Ouija board? Really, Sam? Since when are you into shit like that?” Chris raised his eyebrows.  _Hold up. Team mom Sam wants to play with the supernatural in a place where people died. What the fuck?_

'“What? I thought the atmosphere was appropriate. Gloomy and dark and eerie, you know?”

“I guess it could be fun, but…” Ashley looked at Josh. “Are you okay with it, Josh?” _Wow, what’s with Sam? That’s kinda insensitive to Josh, isn’t it?_

Josh stared at the ceiling with a contemplative look. “Hmm… I guess. I never got a chance to play with it, but…” He swallowed. “Okay, let’s do it.”

“You sure? These things are a joke, man. They don’t do shit, you know.” _Wait, really? Josh is okay with this?_

“I’m sure, man. Besides, maybe we could talk to them, I don’t know.” Josh gave Chris a shaky smile. “And if nothing happened, which I’m sure will be the case by the way; at least we won’t be bored anymore.” _Well, why the fuck not? It’s not like they will possess us or something. There’s no such thing as ghosts anyway._

“Well, if you say so, dude.” Chris still looked worried, but he swallowed his questions knowing that they will only anger Josh. _I hope nothing happens._

“Great!” Josh clapped his hands. “Let’s go find it!”

The four of them went to the basement and spread out to look for the board. Chris and Ashley went to one corner of the basement while Sam and Josh went to the other.

“You know, Sam…”

“Yes, Josh?”

“I just wanted to say that it-it really means a lot to me that everyone came back this year and y-you came, Sam.” Josh smiled shyly.

“Josh. We’re here for you. Really. Whatever you need. Whenever. We’re all gonna make it through this together.”

“Yeah, I know. Thanks a lot, Sammy. I’m glad that you guys… that you’re here.” Josh’s cheeks were tinged pink. _Get it together man, this is your chance. After all you’ve been through together, you need to learn from Chris’ mistakes and just take the lead already. Fortune favors the brave, dude._

“Don’t mention it, Josh. We’re friends; of course we have to help each other.”

“Right. Friends.” _Samantha uses Friend Zone! It’s super effective!_   “How about you, Sammy?”

“What about me?”

“I mean, you were close with them. My sisters. Are-are you okay?”

Sam was quiet. She averted her eyes from Josh’s searching gaze and nodded. “I’m fine.”

“Sammy, remember that I’m here for you too, okay? That offer is not a one-way street.” He tried to encourage her. It was weird now that he thought about it. Yeah, Sam was always there for him after what happened, but she never talked about how it felt for her. _Or maybe she thinks she can’t tell me because it will add to my plate or something? Fuck, I hope that’s not the case._

“I know, Josh. I appreciate it.” The blonde smiled softly. “Now let’s go find that board, okay?”

“Alright.”

They heard a ‘clang!’ behind them. “What’s that?”

“No idea. Where the hell are the nerds anyway? Don’t tell me they ditched us.”

“Chris! Ashley! Where are you?” Sam shouted. Neither of them answered. “Ugh, they definitely ditched us.”

“I don’t blame them. This basement is creepier than my Dad’s old movies.” Josh shook his head. “Well, let’s go look separately, then?” He certainly hoped they were getting it on, his man deserved some action. _Heh, maybe Ash took the lead? Maybe underneath the shy girl persona she’s secretly a freak in the sheets. Seriously, her fics are more detailed than porn, and I say that as a connoisseur of skin flicks._

Before Sam could answer, they heard another noise, this time louder than before. “Seriously, what the hell is that?”

“Pipes, maybe? Or the wind?” The noise grew louder. _Okay, this is starting to freak me out._

“Maybe we should, you know, check it out?” Sam whispered.

“Why?” _What the hell, no. Checking every suspicious sound and then get axed in the head for all the trouble? What are we, protagonists in horror movies?_

“I dunno, what if it’s like, a pipe that’s about to burst or some problem with the furnace?”

“Shit, Sammy, don’t scare me like that. I don’t want the lodge to be caught on fire or something.” _Jeez, Bob will cut off my dick if something happened to his precious lodge._

“That’s why we should check it out—AHH!” A hooded and masked figure suddenly showed up from behind the crates and jumped at them. “WHOA!” They ran as fast as they could and Sam pushed down a board in order to slow the figure down. “What the hell!” _Jesus Christ what the fuck is that oh my god why is there an intruder here fuck I don’t wanna die in my own lodge!_

The figure tripped and grunted but chased them again with more fervor than before. Sam and Josh ran upstairs and went to open the door only to find the door was locked. “Oh come on now why are these doors locked?!” She yelled in frustration and fear. Josh stood in front of Sam, trying to protect her from the rapidly approaching figure…

…which turned out to be Chris.

“Boom! You just got monked!” Chris said with a cheeky smile.

“WHAT!”

Josh guffawed. “Nice one, Cochise. That was good.” He gave Chris a high five, to Sam’s exasperation. _Shit, that was a good scare. I thought I was gonna die for a second there! God, I love this asshole._

“W-why would you do that?!”

“There’s all this cool old movie crap down here! Was I not supposed to take advantage of the opportunity?” He laughed. _Man, I hope Josh let me keep the robe. That’s gonna win me the Halloween costume contest this year._

“Are you… are you serious?!” She turned to Josh. “Were you in on this putz?”

“He wasn’t, but Ash is. Hey Ash! Open the door!” Chris grinned. They heard a ‘click’ and Ashley peeked out her head from behind the door, clearly trying to hold back laughter. “Sorry guys, Chris was too persuasive.” She finally couldn’t hold it anymore and let out a giggle.

“Really, Ash? Really?” Sam was shaking her head.

“What do you mean by ‘persuasive’, Ash?” Josh leered, his fingers making an air quote. _Ohohoho, persuasive, is it? Is that what kids these days called it now?_

Ashley blushed. “Nothing! Chris just told me to lock the door and held it behind me while he chased you around for a bit! I just thought it was funny…” _What was Josh insinuating?! Right in front of Chris no less! Oh my god I’m going to die from embarrassment, damn it Josh!_

“It was, Ash. Good one.” Josh offered his fist to Ashley, who fist-bumped him with a shy smile. _Aww, look at the nerds conspiring against Sammy and I. Gotta get them back when they’re not expecting it._

“Well, tell me at least you found the board, Chris?” Sam turned to him. “Our ticket to the spirit world is here, m’lady.” He pulled out the board from his robe. “Let’s go upstairs and experience the supernatural.”

 

* * *

 

 

**EMILY**

**WASHINGTON LODGE GROUNDS**

**22:51**

 

“Hello, earth to Matt? You gonna come with me to get my bag?”

“Yeah. Yeah I’m coming.” Matt followed after her.

They walked in silence and they came across a wooden gate. Matt opened it for Emily and bowed. “Here you go, madam.”

“Why thank you, sir.” She smirked, amused by Matt’s attempt to be gentlemanly. _What a dork. He hangs out with Ashley too much._

“Hey, Em?”

“Yeah?”

“I think we should start the weekend over. Right now. Clean slate.” _I just want to have a nice weekend with my girlfriend, like normal people do._

“Oh?”

“No arguing, no Mike, no Jess. Just you and I enjoying ourselves in all this nature.” _Seriously, the fact that they didn’t fight has to be counted as a miracle._

“Oh you mean ‘au naturel’?”

“Damn straight.” He didn’t know what that means; he didn’t pay attention to his Spanish class or whatever that was, but he guessed it was something good.

“I can get with that.” The black-clad girl smiled slightly at Matt. He smiled boyishly and they continued to walk while sometimes rubbing their arms to ward off the cold Canadian winter. _No arguing, huh? I can do that, as long as blonde bitch stay the hell away from me. And what he asked isn’t unreasonable anyway. I might as well enjoy this weekend with him… wait, where is he going? He always wanders around whenever I’m not paying attention to him._

“Hey big guy! Come this way!” She demanded.

“You, err, tryin’ to get me somewhere private?”

“Why don’t you come and find out?” She teased. _Ah, boys. So predictable._

Matt grinned. _I hope Em’s good mood will last, at least if just for tonight._

They walked for a bit when Emily stopped. “Matt?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for helping me find my bag… I know I can be a little high maintenance.” She pursed her lips and averted her gaze from Matt. It hurts to admit her flaws out loud. For all her life, her parents always taught her two things: One, always hide your weakness lest your enemies use it against you, and two, people always wants something from you.

And they were right. She saw how people whispered behind Hannah’s back because she was weird and naïve and gullible. The only reason no one bullied her outright was because of her money and that Sam and Beth protected her. They tried, but no one could stop whispers or rumors. She saw it as Hannah letting her weakness show, and teenagers can smell blood in the water better than sharks. It reinforced her belief that if you let people see your weakness, might as well roll belly-up and gave them the knife yourself.

She didn’t want to be like Hannah.

So she tried to fit in among the popular crowds, maintained mutually beneficial relationships with a few chosen people (that most people called friendship, but Emily had never been like most people) and took every opportunity that came to her way. It worked well for her, until Mike dumped her.

She was distraught at the loss of status and benefits she got from being one half of the power couple in school. Also, being single sucks. Fortunately, Matt asked her out not long after.

One of the reasons why she agreed to go out with him was because he was a simple guy and he didn’t care or at least didn’t seem to mind the aspects of her personality that bothered other people. He genuinely seemed to like her for who she was and wanted nothing from her, which caught Emily off guard because it went against what her parents had taught her.

It was weird being with someone who was so earnest and didn’t have any hidden motives. With Mike, sometimes it felt like they were politicians who tried to compromise on everything while trying to maximize the benefits for their own advantages. But Matt was different. Sure, he was a bit dense and a total pushover, but he was also nice and sweet and understanding. He was always so eager to please her, again, very different from Mike who was nice to her if he thought it was gonna score him some action or a favor. She supposed Mike and her were too alike to be compatible.

Sometimes, she wondered why she held on to Mike for so long.

The jock smiled. “It’s no prob, babe. But you gotta remember there’s more to this guy than just bein’ a lean, mean, luggage lifting machine.” _Wow, Em just acknowledged her flaw. I think I’m dreaming. What’s next, zombie apocalypse?_

“You gonna back that up?” Emily challenged.

“All day.” Matt boasted.

Emily laughed. “What?”

“All day.” He repeated.

“Wait, what does that mean?”

“Like, all day long…” Matt pouted slightly. “I was bein’ like… sexy.” He muttered to himself. _Pull yourself together, dude._

They came across a snow-filled clearing. “Whoa, cool.”

“It’s so pretty here tonight.”

“Wow…” Matt looked at their windy, snowy surrounding. _Snow and Em… just the two of us… hell yeah!_

“And it’s so nice to be here with you, muscle man.” Emily held Matt’s hand tightly. She had to admit, even if he’s boring, he’s really hot. Emily didn’t settle for less. _Glad he’s a looker now. And to think those bitches made fun of me in middle school when he followed me around because he’s younger and got his ass kicked by puberty. If only they could see how hot he is now, even if his fashion sense makes me cringe._

“I’m not all muscle. There are some brains in here too.” He gestured to his head.

“Well you got enough brains to like me. So let’s see that brawn.”

“You ever done it outside before?” He pulled Emily closer to envelop her in a hug. _Man, outdoor sex with Em is gonna be an awesome rainy day material._

She pulled away. “Outside of what?” She played dumb. _He did NOT just ask what I thought it was._

“My car.”

“I like your car. It’s roomy.” _He totally did. Of course._

Matt gestured to their surroundings. “This ain’t roomy enough for you?”

Emily just snorted and gestured him to follow. _As if I’d do it in the wild. Any weirdo can come and creep on us, or animals._

They continued walking when Matt asked what had been bothering him all night. “What’s so important in the bag, anyways?”

“It’s just my undies. You know, the lacy ones.” She smirked coyly.

“Well, we don’t need those!”

“You don’t want me to model them for you?” Emily raised her eyebrows.

“I’m just gonna rip ‘em off anyways…” _Man, I could never understand why girls are so self-conscious about their underwear. If they already take off their clothes, who would pay attention whether it’s cotton or lace?_

“Maybe I want to show them off. Puts me in a generous mood.” _Ugh, boys. Always wants the pussy right from the start. I’m actually surprised he knows what foreplay is._

“Well, when you put it that way…”

“And… well, I brought that thing too.” Emily smiled mischievously.

“Thing? What thing?” _Wait, don’t tell me…_

“The one that we ordered together last week…” _It cost me two hundred dollars and if I don’t get it back I’m gonna slap a bitch._

Matt blushed. “Let’s go get ‘em.” _Oh man, she really brought that thing! I am the luckiest man in the world right now, hell yeah!_

They continued to walk, Matt with some spring on his steps. _Shit, I can’t wait to go back and try it._ He grinned to himself.

They came across a totem pole covered in snow. “Look at the sexy kisser on this thing. Dare you to put your hand in it.” Emily crouched to look at the totem closely. _Isn’t this like, a Native American thing?_

“Hey, I wouldn’t—“

“Just slide it up in there—AHH!” Suddenly, Emily was screaming as her hand was sucked into the totem’s mouth. “Matt, help!”

“Emily!” He approached Emily and pulled her from the totem. She just… laughed?

“Gotcha ya big dip.” She wished she could take a picture of his face. _Oh, Matt. So sweet, yet so gullible._

“Jesus. You’re ridiculous.” Matt said, his heart still racing from what he thought was danger to Emily. _Damn, I thought she was gonna lose her hand! Fuck I’m still scared._

“Oh come on—“A loud screech cut her off. “What was that?”

“Not sure… Probably just an animal, or…” _Oh shit, I hope it’s not wolves or bears ‘cause I’m not sure we can fight them…_

“Do not like!” Emily grumbled. _What the fuck was that?!_

They came across a short ledge and Matt dropped down first. He helped Emily down by grabbing her hips and lifting her to the ground below. “Here you are, madam.”

“Thank you. Oh my, very impressive.” Matt smiled proudly and continued to walk. 

They heard another screech, this time closer. “What the hell?” _Oh shit, it’s getting closer! Where is it?!_

“Matt, it sounds closer than before. It’s creepy.” _Fuck, bears and wolves don’t sound like that, which means it’s another kind of animal, but I don’t know what kind of animals screech like that…_

“Yeah. What animals make that kind of sound anyway?” Matt looked around in fear, afraid of being attacked in the middle of nowhere without any means to defend themselves.

“I don’t know and I don’t wanna know. You know what? Let’s just go back. We can get my bag tomorrow.” _Fuck, even if I want to break it in, it’s not worth being mauled to death by those things. I have a bad feeling about this._

“Agreed. Let’s go, Em. I don’t like this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 25 pages of walking! I nearly stabbed my eyes out because dear lord it was tedious, especially Mike and Jess' part.
> 
> I made Ash and Matt still in high school because they're the youngest along with Jess, besides it suits them I think. Until Dawn companion app mentioned that Matt hoped he could go to college with a football scholarship (or something like that I forgot) so yeah he's still in high school. Jess probably hasn't had her birthday yet when they went to the lodge, putting her at the same age and grade as everyone except Josh. Hell, I think Chris is actually around Josh's age because they're in same grade, but probably have late birthdays or something. Idk why I mentioned this, it's not like it's a major plot point lol.
> 
> I know Jess wasn't a cheerleader but eh. She's the archetypal 'slutty girl', it went against stereotype that she wasn't a cheerleader in game imo. I mean c'mon, she already got the bottle blonde part down. (Not that I thought cheerleaders are slutty. I respect them a lot, it takes a lot of courage to get thrown into the air, not to mention the athleticism required... now I want to rewatch Bring It On)
> 
> Hopefully Josh isn't too OOC because in this story he's just a regular guy who had a lot of issues but he got the help that he needed and is way less prone for revenge. I also hope Emily isn't too OOC because I think I wrote her a bit too tsundere-ish, idk. She and Josh were the most fun to write. 
> 
> You can probably guess what's in Em's bag, heh. 
> 
> Next chapter should be out on the 10th.


	4. Haunted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Playing with spirits, getting cockblocked by the universe, and getting hit by a baseball bat, oh my.

**EIGHT HOURS UNTIL DAWN**

**CHRIS**

**WASHINGTON LODGE**

**23:00**

 

“So it says here that to communicate with the spirit world you must free your mind of all preconceptions, drop all inhibitions, and generally give yourself over entirely to the will of others, sublimating your every desire to the whims of the spirit master, which is me—“ _This is some advanced level bullshit right here._

“It doesn’t say that—“Ashley protested.

“—and all present will remove their garments at my sole discretion—“

“Chris, come on, this is serious.” Sam interrupted.

He laughed and wiggled his eyebrows. “Oh, I’m deadly serious.”

“Oh come on, let’s try this.” Josh rolled his eyes. _Bro, I know you wanna get some boobs action from our resident writer, but not in front of me, please._

“Yes please.” Ashley said. _I’m still not sure about this; I hope nothing will happen…_

“Okay then, let’s see what happens.” Chris shrugged. _Man, they’re all so serious about this. It’s weird._

They all sat in a small office with candles around them and the Ouija board on the table. It was dark and eerie, a perfect atmosphere to mess around with the so-called spirit board. However, Chris had a bad feeling about this, hence why he tried to joke around and not take it seriously.

“Sam, since you’re the one who suggested it, why don’t you be our medium for today?”

The short blonde took a deep breath and nodded. “Ok. Um… Anyone there?” She looked around. “Will you reveal yourself to us if you’re there?”

They put their fingers on the small pointer board. Nothing happened.

“Guys, I told you this is bull—“Chris couldn’t believe his eyes, but the pointer somehow moved on its own. “Wait a minute—“ _What the fuck?_

“Did you do that?” Josh asked no-one in particular. He looked pale. _Oh god, did that just happened? It was probably real because they all saw it and it’s moving on its own right now what is happening—_

“I didn’t do anything!” Ashley said. _What’s going on?!_

“Neither did I!” Sam swallowed. “What’s going on—“She watched as the pointer moved towards some letters. “Help?”

“Holy shit, what the fuck is happening?” Josh bit his lips anxiously. _Could it be…?_

“How are we supposed to help?” Chris asked. _Okay, this is bullshit. Someone must be moving it._

“I don’t know! What does it mean?”

“We need to know who it is if we’re supposed to help them.” He pointed out.

“Oh my god, this is weird—“Ashley pulled at her sleeve nervously. _Oh god what if the spirit possessed us? Oh no…_

“Okay, okay—“Sam gulped. “Who are you?”

The pointer moved again. “‘S-I-S-T-E-R’. Sister. What…?”

Josh definitely trembled this time. “Wh-whose sister?” _This can’t be happening. No, no, no._

 _Why are they taking this so seriously?_ “Oh come on is this for real?” Chris mocked.

“Shut up. Ask it whose sister.” _Not now, Chris. If it’s one of my sisters, I have to know the truth._

“Josh, it’s-it’s gotta be…” Ashley trailed off. Sam’s pale complexion got even paler if that was possible.

“Yeah? Ok. Well.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Which sister is it then?” _Which one of you will haunts my dream today?_

Sam bit her lip, hard. “Who are we speaking to…?” She teared up a little. “Beth…?” Her voice was full of longing. “Is that you?”

“Oh god it’s moving again.” Ashley whimpered. “It said yes…” _Oh god, Beth is here, oh Jesus!_

“This is messed up.” Chris shook his head, obviously not believing what was currently happening. _Seriously, whoever did this should stop because it’s not funny anymore._

“Josh, are you—“

“I’m fine.” Josh cut Sam off. _Of course it’s Beth; even in death she can’t stop bothering me—_

“Are you sure, because we can stop—“ _Oh Josh, I’m so sorry…_

He shook his head firmly. “No.” _You hate me so much even in death you still haunts me I’m sorry—_

“Dude, it’s cool if—“ _Fuck, I don’t want him to have an episode over this bullshit._

“I want to hear what it says!” Josh snapped, his voice trembling _. I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I failed you I failed Hannah I failed our family—_

“I don’t know where to start…” Sam whispered.

“Think about it. If this is actually Beth—“Chris licked his dry lips. “We can find out what happened that night.” _Fine, let’s play along. I’m gonna see what they’ll do when faced with something they don’t have the answer for._

“Right. Okay.” Sam nodded to herself. “Beth? We want to know what happened to you that night. Can you… can you tell us?”

The pointer was moving faster than before. “H-A-N-N-A-H. Hannah. K-I-L-L-E-D. Killed. Wait, what?” Ashley furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. _What the fuck is happening oh god no no!_

 “I don’t know if I can keep doing this.” Sam whispered.

“We have to.” Josh said softly. _No. No. No._

“Just-just stay calm… I think it’s saying that someone killed Hannah?” Chris said aloud. “I just… Ask it something else.” _Is this for real? Jesus, what the hell is going on here?_

Sam bit her lip hard enough to start drawing blood. “Alright. Okay.” She drew in a deep breath. “Who killed Hannah?”

All of the sudden, the board was moving rapidly and fell to the floor. The teens jumped from their seat in surprise.

“Holy shit.” Ashley whispered in shock. _Oh no, that wasn’t good at all…_

“You know what? This is bullshit. This isn’t real—“Josh spoke quietly in a furious tone.

“Josh, I’m-I’m so sorry—“Sam said but Josh cut her off. “Listen, I don’t know if you think messing with me is somehow going to help me deal with my grief or whatever but this is not cool!” _Of course, let’s mess with Josh, crazy freaky Josh, Josh the weirdo who thought he could talk to his dead sisters over a fucking spirit board—_

“Josh, I—“

“I don’t need this right now, okay?! You guys are full of shit!” He snapped. “I need some air.” He went to the door and slammed it loudly behind him. The three of them looked at each other in fear and confusion.

“Shit, this is all my fault. What was I thinking, asking to play with Ouija board in a place where someone we knew died?” Sam covered her face with her hands in shame. “Chris, Ash, I’m sorry, but could you clean this up? I’m gonna go look for Josh and apologize…” She hung her head.

“Okay, you do that. Fuck that was messed up.” Chris sighed deeply. Ashley nodded quickly and mouthed ‘go’ to Sam. The blonde gave them a forced smile and went after Josh.

“That-that was crazy… The board was like, flying right off the table!” The redhead whimpered. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she would never believe it. _Was Beth angry or something?_

“If you were faking it you were doing one hell of a job.” Chris said, trying to convince himself that this was a cruel joke. _But who would do that to Josh? We’re his closest friends…_

“I wasn’t faking anything! Why would I do that to Josh?!” Ashley said defensively. _What the hell, Chris?! I’m not that cruel!_

“Okay, okay. I believe you. But it’s still messed up. Not to mention an asshole thing to do if it wasn’t, you know, actually Beth’s spirit or whatever.”

“Yeah. I hope Josh isn’t too mad at us…”

 

* * *

 

 

**MIKE**

**PATH TO THE CABIN**

**23:22**

 

“Jess?” Mike looked around nervously. _Where the hell is Jess? I just turned my back for a few seconds and now she’s gone!_

“Fuck nuggets.” He muttered to himself while trying to climb the log. _She made it look so easy_. He jumped down with a grunt. “Jess?”

Mike shone his flashlight around, trying to see better in the middle of heavy snow. “Hon? Light of my life? Jess?” He called out in vain. “Hello?” The tall jock walked as fast as he dared to—poor visibility and heavy snow made him fear breaking into run. “Jess, this is not funny!” _Shit, how the hell she disappeared just like that? And where’s the footprints? Did she float or something?!_

“Come on, Jess. I promise I won’t murder you when I find yo—AAHH!” Mike nearly fell on his ass when Jess jumped from the bush holding a set of antlers.

The blonde laughed uproariously. “Oh my god! That was so good!” She stopped to catch her breath and laughed some more. _This is so gonna be blackmail material for years._

“No!” _What the fuck! I thought I was gonna get attacked! Jesus!_

Jess went to retrieve her phone. “Wait, wait, you have to see this—“

“You recorded that?!” Mike was embarrassed seeing his recorded-self screaming in terror. _Oh my god, I looked like a fucking pussy!_

“Look at your face!”

“I was scared, Jess! You can’t just jump out at somebody in the middle of the woods, it’s scary!”

“I’m sorry, did I scare you?” Jess cooed mockingly. _Aww, he’s pouting, that’s so cute._

“If you send that to anybody, I’m-I’m gonna… kill… ya…” Mike mumbled uncertainly. _Goddamn it, I can’t stay angry at her…_

“I didn’t know you had such a cute little lady-like scream, Michael.” She giggled. “Guess you never really know someone until you’ve scared the pants off’ em!”

“As far as I can tell my pants are still on.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yeah. Looks like you’ll have to try harder.”

“A challenge, ‘ey?” Jess looked at Mike from head to toe. “Well I hope you’re strapped in cause you’re about to feel the full force of my mind melting thrill skills.” _I can’t wait to see him without his pants._

“Uh-huh. Let’s go, babe.” _Nice save, Munroe_.

They were climbing up a set of stairs when they heard a loud screech near them. ”The hell is that?” _Oh shit, what now?!_

“Was it someone screaming?” _It sounds like the screech from before. Great._

“I dunno. Maybe a squirrel or something.”

“Ugh. Creep-town.” _That was definitely not a squirrel, Michael. What the hell._

“Shh!” He heard a noise behind the trees. “Did you hear that?”

“Uh, no?”

Mike grabbed a small rock and threw it towards the trees. A large deer jumped out and made them fall to the snow. “Ah! Goddamnit!” _What the fuck! That was some big-ass deer!_

“That thing almost killed us!” _Why is nature trying to kill us today?! What the hell!_

Mike helped Jess stand up and continued walking. They shivered, the snow was getting heavier and it was getting colder. He couldn’t wait to get to the cabin; he was so tired of all these trees and snow. _I get it, it’s pretty and all but after a while it gets repetitive and boring. I just want a cozy bed with Jess and I on top of it._

After a few minutes of walking, they came across a small shack. “Charming.” Mike said wryly.

“It’s everything you described, Michael.”

“Wait, what?”

“The cabin. I love it.” Jess said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. _Where the fuck was the promised cozy cabin? We’ve been walking around for like hours now and there was nothing in sight, just creepy screams and nature being a mega bitch_.

Mike snorted lightly. He entered the cabin while Jess was waiting outside. The tall jock picked up an old mask. “Hey, check out this mask.” He showed it off to Jess. _Why would this mask lying around here?_

“Ew. Why?” Jess made a face when she saw the mask.

“It’s so weird, right?” _This looks so cool! I kinda want to bring it home…_

“It creeps me out! _Well duh, Michael, of course it’s weird. It’s probably a movie prop from Josh’s dad._

“I think you like it.” He put the mask on. “Wanna make out?”

“Ugh! Mike! Stop!” _What the actual fuck, Michael!_

“Alright. Your loss.” He shrugged and took off the mask, laughing at his own antics. “This mask is cool.” Mike threw the mask on top of the bench outside of the shack. _Wish I could bring it with me, but Jess probably will complain._

They were walking silently when they heard another screech. “What’s that?” _Another one? Seriously?_

“Not sure if I wanna know…”

They came across a dying deer with a huge wound on its neck. “Damn…” Mike winced. Jess gasped.

“It’s horrible!” _Oh my god I want to throw up oh Jesus the blood and the gore why is nature such a bitch today?!_

“I don’t think he’s gonna make it.” Mike bit his lips. He loved animals, perhaps not as much as Sam and not enough to stop eating meat, but he still loved them nonetheless. So he decided to try to comfort the deer before it went off grazing at the Great Plains on the sky. “Hey bud…” He approached the deer slowly.

“Oh my god, the poor thing…” Jess was almost crying. She hated that she couldn’t do anything for the animal, or at least reduces its pain. _Poor animal, I want to help but I don’t know what to do…_

“Hey buddy… it’s okay… it’s okay…” Mike patted its head softly. _I’m so, so sorry…_

“Ohh… Mike, it’s in so much pain…” _Christ, I can’t look at it anymore_.

“It’ll be over soon…” Mike whispered softly to the deer. It appeared to be mildly comforted. “Okay buddy? It’ll be over soon--WHOA!” Something dragged the deer away with inhuman speed and force which made them jump in terror.

“RUN! RUN!” Mike shouted. _Oh shit oh shit oh shit!_

“What the hell was that?!” Jess asked between sharp intakes of breaths. _Oh my god a bear was dragging that deer Jesus Christ are we next?!_

“I don’t know!”

They jumped across a bridge and ran as fast as they could, believing whatever it was that wounded and dragged the deer was behind them. “It’s a bear, it’s gotta be a bear!” Mike said. _It couldn’t be anything else right? Even if there are wolves here I don’t think they’ll be strong enough to drag a deer like that…_

Soon they saw the cabin, but in their haste Jess tripped. “Jess!” Mike ran back to help her but she just shrugged him off. “I’m okay! Just grab the key, Michael!”

He quickly grabbed the key and tried to unlock the cabin door with some difficulty because of his shaking hands. He finally opened it and they ran inside, Mike locked the door behind him.

“Oh my god that was close!” Jess panted. _Jesus Christ, I thought I’m gonna got eaten when I fell!_

“Holy shit, I thought we were gonna die.” Mike wiped his face with his jacket sleeve. _Fuck that was scary. This is why I don’t like being outside of the city. I could try to fight a mugger, but no way in hell I could fight a fucking bear._

“Was it a bear?”

“Yeah, probably. What else could’ve dragged away a deer that easily?”

“I mean, I didn’t see anything—“

“Hey. Thing’s not gonna come barging in, I promise.”

“How can you be so sure?

“Cause I’m pretty sure bears don’t know how to open cabin doors.”

“I guess you’re right…” Jess sighed. “Okay. I’m almost feeling relaxed again.” She tried to turn on the light to no avail. “Hmph. Typical.” Mike shrugged at Jess’ annoyance.

“This is not what I expected, Michael.” The blonde pouted and sat on the couch huffily. The cabin looked run-down and dusty, not to mention dark since the light wouldn’t turn on. And who knows what creature was out there. She didn’t feel safe at all. _What a shitty place. No power, no heating, there’s animals chasing us… fuck, why is it so hard to fuck my boyfriend?_

“Yeah it’s a bit drafty or something, right?”

“Well there is a fireplace.” Jess gestured to the fireplace in front of her.

“We don’t need a fire to heat things up.” Mike said suggestively.

“Michael.” Jess sighed. _Boys_. “I am a lady and a lady needs a proper romantic setting.”

“Okay…?” Mike said, not understanding Jess’ point. _What’s that have to do with anything?_

“A lady would like to cuddle up with her man by a nice cozy fire bathed in atmospheric mood lighting.” _How dense could he get? Jesus fucking Christ._

“It’ll get plenty toasty once we’re rubbing up against each other.” Jess rolled her eyes at Mike’s comment.

“Mike?”

“Yeah?”

“Fire. And mood lighting.” _I know he wants all of this, but this place is colder than Emily’s snatch! And I don’t want to do it when I can barely see my tits!_

Mike sighed. “Yes, m’lady.” _Women. So high maintenance. You’re lucky you’re cute, Jess._

He shone the flashlight around and found a box of matches on the desk behind the couch. “Lookie-lookie, who’s gonna fire up some nookie!”

“You’ve been dying to use that line since we got here, haven’t you.” Jess said dryly. “What are you, twelve?”

Mike grinned and went to light the fireplace. “Man one, fire zero.”

“Very nice. Bravo.” _Michael Munroe, ladies and gentlemen. Class president, jock extraordinaire, and the lighter of the fireplace._

He then turned on the lantern beside the fireplace. “That takes care of the mood lighting.”

Mike turned towards Jess. “Alright my lady. What comes next?” He approached her slowly. Jess grinned. She pushed Mike down on to the couch and started to unzip Mike’s jacket.

“Ooh, hell yeah.” He tried to get up, only for Jess to push him back again. She put her finger on Mike’s lips. “Nuh-uh. Patience, Michael.” She always loved to be in charge and boy was he happy to let her do so.

Jess lifted Mike’s white wife beater and threw it behind the couch. “Damn, someone’s been working out.” _I’m so lucky this hot boy is mine. Can’t wait to lick that abs._

Mike smirked, his ego stroked with Jess’ compliment. “I think you're wearing too many clothes, babe.” _Gonna get the Homecoming Queen to ride me any second now, my life is fucking awesome!_

“Am I?”

“Uh-huh. Let me help you with that—“

Mike beckoned Jess to come closer. She approached Mike with a slow smile and let him unzip her jacket, leaving her in a thin white t-shirt.

“That’s better.” He smiled. She smiled back and leaned down to kiss him.

Suddenly, they heard a loud ‘bang!’ noise coming from the door. “What the hell is that?”

“I don’t know…” _Fuck, shit, fuck, why now?! I only expected to get blue balls from the cold, not from being cockblocked by the world!_

“Michael, go check it out.” Jess whispered.

“What? Why?” Mike whispered back heatedly.

“Because if it turned out to be those jerks, I’m gonna kick their asses.” Jess grumbled. _What’s with today, it’s like the universe wants us to NOT have sex!_

Mike groaned. “But Jess…” He just wanted to ignore it and go back to what they were doing. _Fuck Jess, just let it go, I don’t want to go out like this!_

“Michael! Just check it out already!” The blonde demanded. _Does he want to let them to get away with cockblocking us?!_

“Okay, okay! Geez…” He grumbled and opened the door. Nobody and nothing was around except for a big rock on the porch and a slight dent on the door. _Looks like someone threw it to the door earlier_ , _but who the hell strong enough to threw this?_

“Guys, don’t you have anything better to do than cockblocking us?!” He shouted. He was angry and desperate. _I really, really need to get some sweet release. I don’t need some assholes bothering me right before I’m banging my girlfriend!_

He closed the door and shook his head. “I didn’t see anything, babe—“

A clawed hand broke through the door and grabbed Mike’s head. He yelled in surprise and tried to reach out to Jess. She froze at the sight of what was happening before her.

“JESS! HE—“

Mike didn’t get to finish his sentence. The hand dragged him away, cutting his face on the broken glass.

His screams rang loudly into the night.

 

* * *

 

 

**ASHLEY**

**WASHINGTON LODGE**

**23:10**

 

“Do you really think the girls were communicating with us?” Chris said.

“I don’t know. I don’t know if I wish they were or I wish they weren’t.” Ashley said quietly. _Is it wrong that I hoped it was true? I have a lot to say to them…_

“Me too.” Chris scratched his cheek. “Anyway, let’s go find Josh and Sam. I hope he’s feeling a bit better now.” _And not having an episode all by himself, that’ll be really bad, Jesus._

“Okay, let’s go.”

They were looking around for Josh and Sam in the living room when a loud scream pierced the silence. “You hear that?” _What the fuck?_

“That was Sam!” Chris ran to the kitchen. “Sam?! SAM! We’re coming! Hold on!” He let the door close behind him. “AHH!”

“What the hell?! Chris?!” Ashley shouted. She could hear Chris screaming in the kitchen. “CHRIS!” She tried to open the door but it was stuck. “Chris! Sam! What’s going on?!” _Oh no, what happened?!_

It sounded like someone was fighting in the kitchen. “Chris!” Ashley tried to shove the door with her shoulder. “Wait… for…” The door finally opened and Ashley fell to the floor from the momentum.

“Chris…?” She tried to stand up when she saw Chris’ prone body in front of her. “CHR—“

Everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate, hate, HATE Mike's and Jess' part, so if it's shittier than the others... whoops.
> 
> No clue hunting in library or ghost sighting because the psycho didn't have time and money for that. Also, not an expert in film effect.


	5. Loyalty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blood, blood everywhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: I'm shitty at writing action scenes.

**SEVEN HOURS UNTIL DAWN**

**JESS**

**CABIN**

**23:59**

 

“Oh my god! Michael!” Jess ran out of the cabin in a panic. In her haste she nearly forgot to grab Mike’s dropped flashlight, but she took it before she set off running to save Mike from… whatever it was that grabbed him. _Holy fucking shit, what the fuck is happening?!_ _Was that a hand?! Oh god what the fuck!_

“Michael! I’m coming, hold on!” Jess was panicking. What the hell was it that could grab a healthy and strong guy like Mike so easily? And why would it take him away? Jess could feel her throat dried up from all the bad thoughts, but she shook her head and continued to chase after Mike. _I have to save him!_

“Shit!” Jess stopped in front of a river with pieces of barrel floating in it. One small misstep and she could fall into the cold, hypothermia inducing water and lose Mike. But she had to try, for him.

Jess gulped and jumped across the barrels. She certainly was glad that she went through all the ballet and cheers training because it helped a _lot_ with her balance right now.

She ran and reached the cliff. When she stopped to catch her breath, she could hear Mike screaming down there. “JESSICA! HELP! JESSICA!”

“Shit! Michael!” Jess swallowed the lump in her throat. She could either go around the cliff for a safer but slower way, or jump down the cliff for a riskier but faster way.

 _Faster it is._ No matter how dangerous, she couldn’t risk losing Mike.

“Shiiiiiiit!” Jess could feel rocks and snow digging across her ass while she sled down the cliff. _For fuck’s sake, I like being spanked as much as the next girl but this hurts so much!_

She nearly fell, but she managed to grab a branch at the last second. She dropped down, took her flashlight, and continued to run until a wide ledge looming in front of her.

The blonde took a deep breath, stepped back a bit, and ran to jump across it. Jess could feel the cold wind biting on her bare arms as she just realized she left her jacket in the cabin.

_No time to think about that now, I have to save Michael!_

She came across an overpass. It looked to be really high up but she decided to slide down because time was of essence. _My ass will not thank me later, but I have to do this. For Mike._

“Oh shit, fuck, no!” It was cold, wet, and Jess was sure she will tumble to her death. She dropped down to what looked like an old mine. _Great, back to this shithole again. Fuck my life._

She winced at the pain in her legs and ass from dropping down from that height. _God, everything hurts…_

“C’mon, Jess, you can do it.” She muttered to herself and jumped down carefully to the deeper area of the mines. Thank god her flashlight fell with her and didn't break. Jess didn’t know what to do if she was stuck in the dark without any means of light, especially with who knows what down there. She shivered, partly in cold and partly in fear.

“Oh, no, Jessica!” She could hear Mike screaming again and it renewed her determination.

“I’m coming, Mike!” _Wait for me, Michael. I will save you. I promise._

She ran inside of a barn following Mike’s screams, and it was so dark her flashlight barely helped.

“JESSICA! HELP! HELP ME!”

“MICHAEL I’M COMING!” Jess shouted back and ran to the back of the barn. Hopefully Mike heard that she was there. He probably felt hopeless and alone.

Fear gripped her body. _But what if whatever it was that took Michael is also here?_

Jess tried to ignore the thought and soon she came across the sign ‘ **ELEVATOR** ’ near a staircase and ran down. She was sure she heard Mike sobbing. On any other situation, she would probably tease Michael “I’m gonna be the President when I reach 40” Munroe for crying, but now Jess was nearly crying herself. She didn’t want to lose Mike.

She found herself in a mine tunnel and she could hear Mike’s crying getting louder. She ran as fast as she dared—it was dark and her flashlight barely provided any light—and finally, finally she saw Mike on top of an elevator. “NO!”

Mike was wounded absolutely everywhere. Scratches, bruises, even his fingernails were bleeding and missing some, probably from clawing the ground to try to get the thing to stop. He was covered in blood and he looked very pale.

“Oh god, Michael!” Jess nearly cried from looking at his condition. She touched Mike, to convince herself that it was really him lying dazed on the elevator, and not her hallucination. _Oh god please tell me I’m not too late oh god Michael I’m sorry…_

Mike twitched. “Michael! Michael, can you hear me?!” _Is he alive?!_

He tried to sit up and winced. “…help…” He mumbled and reached towards Jess.

Before Jess could grab his hand, the elevator came down and a cave-in nearly hit her. “NO! MICHAEL!”

_Oh god oh god a fall from this distance will kill him or that cave-in would oh god I failed I’m so sorry Michael I’m so sorry I’m so sorry—_

Jess sat on the floor and sobbed, crying for Mike and promises that will never come true.

 

* * *

 

 

**ASHLEY**

**WASHINGTON LODGE**

**00:41**

 

“Ungh… ow… what the hell…?”

Ashley felt a sharp pain on her temple. She rubbed her fingers on it but luckily there was no blood. Then she remembered Chris’ prone body before she blacked out. “Oh no, Chris!”  _Who did that to him?! And did they hit me too?!_

She quickly stood up and nearly fell from the dizziness, but she forced herself to stand. She had to find him, no matter how scared she was. She knew she was never the brave one, but right now Chris needed her and she had to try.

The small redhead looked around but she didn’t see Chris anywhere. “Chris? Chris, where are you?” _Oh god what’s going on, I wish Chris was here, where is he, oh god…_

Chris was always the source of her strength and they made each other better. They helped each other to cope after that night and she owed him a lot. She really hoped he was okay, because if something happened to him... No, she couldn’t think about that now.

She opened the door on the other side of the kitchen to find a bloodstain on the wall. _Oh Jesus, whose blood is that? Oh god…_

Ashley bit her lips and shone her flashlight to the blood. It looked fresh. “Shit, no…” She nearly cried at the thought of a bleeding Chris, or her bleeding friends, alone with whomever it was that hit her and hurt him.

She saw the door that led outside was open. “Guys?!”

There was a blood trail leading downstairs. Ashley choked down a sob at the thought of Chris bleeding so much but shoved that thought aside and continued to follow the trail. She could only hope that she wasn’t too late.

She followed the trail to the shed and nearly sobbed when she saw the blood pooled around the door. _Oh god please I need Chris I can’t lose him now!_ _Not before I have the chance to tell him!_

Ashley pushed the door open tentatively. “Chris! Hello?!” She looked around the dilapidated shed and saw a lot of cages hung with chains dangling from the ceiling. “Oh my god, what the hell is happening?” She whimpered.

“Please… help me…”

It was him. “CHRIS!” Ashley ran towards the sound and saw the most terrifying thing in her life.

Chris and Sam were tied up with a fucking _saw blade_ pointing towards them. Ashley nearly dropped her flashlight in shock when Chris spoke again. “Ash…? Are you there?”

Before she could answer, a voice suddenly spoke. “Hello, and thank you for joining me.”

“Oh my god Sam wake up!” Chris shouted at unconscious Sam beside him.

“Huh…? What?!” Sam looked around in shock when she realized she was suspended in air and couldn’t move.

The voice spoke again. “Tonight, we’re going to conduct a little experiment. A sort of test.”

“What is this?!” Sam yelled in panic and looked around wildly. “Chris, what the hell is going on?!”

“I don’t know!” He didn’t know where he was or what was happening, his head was killing him and he just felt like puking from the pain. His vision was blurry, but he could make out Ashley’s silhouette from behind the glass. _Oh god, at least she’s safe, but what the fuck happened to Sam and I?! And who the fuck is talking right now?!_

“Now for this experiment we’ll need the cooperation of our two test subjects… Christopher and Samantha…”

“What?!” Sam felt faint.

“Holy shit. Oh my god.” Chris’ eyes nearly bulged out from the information. _Am I in a snuff film right now?! Oh my god!_

“But we’re going to need one more brave participant to help decide which subject will live, and which will die.”

“OH GOD NO, ASHLEY! GET US OUT OF HERE!” Chris looked pale. _This can’t be happening. Fuck fuck fuck fuck!_

“NO! LET ME DOWN HERE YOU MANIAC!” Sam shouted.

“Please, everyone, calm down.” The voice said softly. “It’s all very simple. Ashley, you will find a lever placed directly in front of you.” Ashley snapped out of her shock and looked down at said lever. “All you have to do is choose who you will save.”

Ashley stared at the lever and the photos of Chris and Sam in front of her with mute horror. This lever will decide who will live or who will die.

Her long-time crush or her good friend?

She nearly screamed in frustration. _Why me?! How could this happen to us?! What sick fucker would do this to us?! What have I done to deserve this, or Chris, or Sam?!_

To their horror, the saw blade started moving. “Oh god this can’t be happening…” Chris whimpered.

This is not how his life was supposed to end! He supposed to die at 90 on his bed after he finally made a perfect artificial intelligence, not in a dirty shed with his guts sprayed all over the wall!

“Shit! Shit! No!” Ashley screamed.

“Oh god, Ashley! Do something!” Chris felt tears pooled in his eyes.

Sam gulped. “Okay… okay… this is gonna be okay… “She said in an effort to reassure them and herself.

“Oh god oh god oh god.” Ashley bit her nails in panic. She couldn’t choose! There’s no way she could choose between Chris and Sam!

“Ash… think about this for a minute…” Sam said evenly, trying to hide her panic.

“Ashley, you can’t let us die! Do something!” Chris snapped. _Oh god I don’t want to die please help me!_

“I-I can’t think straight... shit…”

The redhead grabbed her hair in frustration. She could save one of them, not both. _Oh god what should I do?! Who should I choose?! I don’t know what to do why me oh god why…_

“Ashley! Do something!” Chris screamed in panic when he saw the blade getting closer bit by bit.

“I…I…” she looked at their terror-stricken face. Her mind went blank and words tumbled out from her mouth before she fully realized what happened.  

“Chris, I’ll get you out of here, I won’t let you die!”

Her voice sounded so far away, like she was underwater. She couldn’t believe it was her talking about which one of her friends that got to live and which one had to die.

“Oh god, thank god!”

“No!” Sam whimpered. “Ashley, why?!”

Ashley barely heard her when all she could hear was the sound of the saw blade and her own heartbeat. She quickly pushed the lever to the Sam’s side.

“I see. You have chosen to save Christopher.” The voice intoned again.

“NO! ASHLEY, WHY?!” Sam screamed in betrayal. Ashley whimpered; looking at Sam’s teary eyes tore her heart to shreds. “I thought we were friends! Why would you do this to me?! No!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” She wanted to just curl up in a ball and cry her eyes out on the floor. _I condemned Sam to death I’m a murderer I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry—_

Chris turned his head to the side and cried silently, both feeling relieved and guilty that Ashley chose him over Sam. “Sam, I’m so sorry, so sorry…”

“Noooo!”

The sound of saw blade meeting flesh was the one thing they wouldn’t ever forget. Sam continued to scream until she just… stopped.

Chris could feel his left side getting warm from Sam’s sprayed blood and nearly threw up at the sensation.

Ashley opened the now unlocked door and tried her best not to look at Sam’s bisected body. She saw Chris opening his eyes and panicked. “Chris, no, don’t look!”

Too late. Either from morbid curiosity or guilt, Chris turned his head and saw Sam’s body. He could clearly see her intestines hanging out and her face frozen in fear and betrayal.

Ashley untied Chris and barely had time to dodge Chris’ vomit. She cried and turned her head to the side while trying not to throw up herself, but the smell of blood and vomit and crushed intestines quickly got to her and she threw up near Chris.

They continued to throw up for a few minutes while trying not to look at Sam’s body.

“Oh god, it was real…” Ashley whimpered. _I killed her I killed Sam I’m a murderer I’m so sorry—_

“I don’t want to believe it either, Ash.” _God, I’m alive at the cost of my friend’s life—_

Chris bowed his head. It felt so surreal. Just a few hours ago they were joking together and drinking hot chocolate in the lodge. Now?

Now Sam was _dead_.

“Chris… let’s get out of here… I… I don’t want to see her anymore…” She stood up, her eyes swollen with tears. Chris nodded and tried hard to not look back.

They were crying in front of the shed when they saw Matt and Emily walking towards them. “Chris?!” Matt exclaimed in surprise. “Ashley?!”

“Blood.” Emily whispered when she saw Chris covered in blood from head to toe. “Whose blood is that, Chris?!” The black haired girl covered her nose from the smell of blood and vomits that Chris and Ashley emitted. _What the fuck did these two do?!_

“Are you okay?!” Matt asked. _Oh my god, what the hell happened?!_

Ashley sobbed. “S-Sam…”

“Sam what, Ash?”

“She’s-she’s dead—“

“Wait, what?!” _No way. No fucking way, they must be kidding!_

“Right in front of us, oh god—“Ashley babbled. Chris cried silently besides the redhead.

“What are you talking about?!” Emily said in disbelief. _What the fuck, are they for real?!_

“T-there’s a maniac—“

“Maniac?” Matt asked.

“Oh my god, we gotta get out of here—“

“I don’t understand what happened—“

“There’s a-a maniac! And he was… there was a saw—“The redhead babbled amidst the crying. “—and it was either her or Chris and I didn’t know what to do!” She cried even louder. “Cut right through her and-and everything spilled out everywhere—“Beside her, Chris looked like he wanted to throw up again.

“WHAT?! Oh my god Ash what?!” Emily said in shock. _Did I heard them right?! Jesus Christ!_

“I-I killed her! I-I killed Sam!” _I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry—_

“Whoa, Ash—“ _No, no way! They must be joking, right?!_

“It was my fault, Matt—“ _I killed her oh god forgive me—_

Emily bit her lips. _Out of all of us, they were the least likely to joke about something like this, besides Ashley’s a terrible liar and she has no poker face. Chris’ sense of humor runs in the lines of shitty dad jokes and terrible puns, not pretending someone died and deliberately covered himself in blood and vomit, so… so that means they’re not lying._ _Fuck_. “No. No, this is insane. We need to go get some help.”

“Cut right in half—“Ashley kept repeating, seeing the scene playing out in the top of her head, over and over again.

“Look, we’re gonna figure this out, Ash.” Matt tried to calm Ashley down. _Shit, we need to do something! Someone killed Sam and who knows where is he now?!_

“I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know—“

Matt blinked like he just realized something. “Wait, where are the others?”

“Mike and Jess are probably 69ing each other right now and who knows where Josh is.” Emily grumbled.

“I-I think he’s in the lodge… he was mad at us and went off alone…” Ashley said quietly. _Oh god what should I tell Josh, oh no…_

Emily frowned. “Fine. Get everyone else together. But if there’s a maniac running around I think we need to get some help. We can’t just wait around, who knows what will happen.” _Right. We need to calm down and get some help. We can cry later, after we get off this fucking mountain and away from that psycho._

Matt rubbed his head. “Right. You’re right.”

“Good. Chris, Ash, you two go get back to the lodge—“

“NO!” Ashley screamed. Chris just stared blankly at Emily, evidently still in shock. “No, I won’t get back to the lodge oh my god what if that psycho is there—“

“Fine!” Emily snapped. _Jesus fuck, do I have to do everything myself?_ “You two get help! And, ugh, be careful, we heard some animals when we were on the way to the cable car station. I know you’re scared right now but keep an eye on your surroundings, because if something happened to you we’re fucked, okay?” She softened her tone after considering what they just went through.

“Okay.” Ashley sniffed. “You and Matt be careful too, I don’t want you to get k-killed…” The redhead trailed off. She shook her head and led Chris away from the pair.

Ashley’s sobs faded quietly into the night.

 

* * *

 

 

**JESS**

**MINES**

**00:12**

 

Jess didn’t know how long she had sat and cried. She just felt numb and aching all over.

_Michael, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I failed. I’m sorry I was not fast enough, not strong enough. I’m sorry I froze when that thing grabbed you. If only I reacted in the cabin… if only I pulled you from that elevator sooner. If only we didn’t go to the cabin in the first place…_

Jess blinked. What about that thing that grabbed Michael?

Panic washed over her. She looked around in fear, expecting to be attacked any moment. She coiled and tensed, ready to react at the slightest movement.

After a few minutes, nothing emerged from the shadows and Jess let herself relaxed for a bit. She slowed her breathing in an attempt to calm herself down.

 _Okay. So nothing’s here. If I can’t save Michael, I will get revenge or die trying_. Jess gritted her teeth. _But first, I have to get out of here_.

She took her flashlight and walked towards the ramp carefully. The ramp was cut off in the middle so she had to jump across.

Jess stared at the wall in front of her. “Oh you gotta be kidding me.”

The wall lead the way out with a hole on top. Upon closer look, there were some bars, likely left from the fallen ramps, enough for hand grips and footholds. “Fuck, where’s Sam when you need her? I’m not a rock climber!” Jess whined.

She steeled herself and tried to reach for the closest bar. She grabbed it and fell immediately. “Fuck! Ow!”

“Okay. Okay. You can do it. Come on, Jess, you can.” She tried to reach the bar again and managed to hang from it. Slowly and painfully, Jess climbed the wall with the flashlight between her teeth.

She nearly screamed when a board flew near her head, but she stopped before her screaming would drop the flashlight. Jess had to remind herself to not look down because she was sure falling from this height would break her back and legs.

She managed to find a stable foothold and turned back. There was another path across of her. She took a deep breath and jumped. She stumbled a bit and took the flashlight from between her teeth.

A figure was walking away. “Shit!” _That must be the shithead that dragged Michael here!_

She followed the figure quietly and turned off the flashlight in fear of being discovered. It was dark, but not as dark as before because there was a flare nearby and she could see the figure walking away. Jess ran to follow him when she saw a shutter was going to close behind the figure. “Shit! Gonna make it…!” She managed to slide down under the shutter before it closed down.

Jess sighed in relief and stood up. She turned on the flashlight and hoped the battery will hold because she had no other source of light if it ran out. _I’m gonna catch that motherfucker and make him pay for what he did to Mike._

She could hear the wind blowing, so she guessed she must be close to the exit already. Jess ran out of the mine and to the cold biting wind and snow. Her arm hairs stood up from the cold and she could see her foggy breath in front of her.

Jess gritted her teeth and pushed forward slowly, the wind slowing her down considerably. “Oh fuck…” She could only hope she won’t get frostbite or hypothermia from running around in snow with a thin shirt and jeans. She hoped she could find a jacket soon, somehow.

The blonde saw a silhouette of a building from afar. “The fuck is that place?” Jess muttered.

She decided to investigate it. One way or another, she will get some answers.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day! Tbh it's part of my birthday treat to myself and the other part is because I hate Jess' and Mike's part and I want to let it out asap. I'd post chapter 5 too but I'm not done editing it yet. (I'm lazy 'cause fuck the sanatorium part)
> 
> As much as a badass in-game Mike was, he wasn't in a risk of dying until chapter 10 because of ~plot armor~ so when Handigo dragged him here I think it was realistic that he panicked and couldn't do anything.
> 
> Chris and Ashley were too calm in game after witnessing Josh's "death" imo so I changed it. I think it was a reasonable reaction to make them puke their dinner. Ever smell innards? Ew. Also, vomit smells really, really bad, so it was like a chain reaction.
> 
> Next chapter should be out either on the 12th or the 15th.


	6. Dread

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's something sinister in the air...

**SIX HOURS UNTIL DAWN**

**JESS**

**SANATORIUM GROUNDS**

**01:03**

 

Jess finally reached what she later learned was the Sanatorium after a long hour of climbing and running. She nearly gave up, but the thought of Mike gave her strength to continue. _This is for Mike; he’d do the same if he was in my position. No time to stop, Jess._

She peeked out behind the low walls around the building. “Damn it, that fucker has dogs. Shit…”

Jess waited until the man and his dogs entered before she climbed over the wall. “Ugh.” She grunted. Her legs hurt and her arms felt numb.

The blonde tried her best to ignore the cold and walked sneakily towards the entrance. _Is it just my imagination or does the wind sound like howls?_ She shook her head. _Maybe this creepy building is getting into me._

It did look creepy. Dark, windy, and cold, Jess could barely see anything with her flashlight. The architecture loomed over her, like a shadow that would swallow her whole. There was an empty fountain in the middle of the courtyard—now it was filled with snow and overgrown weeds. A fallen tree lied near it. Strangely, the lights on the wall were on.

Jess climbed the stairs and tried the door. It was locked. _Of course_.

She went to the side to look for another way in and saw a plaque among the overgrown leaves. She shone her flashlight to read it.

**CONDEMNED**

**IT IS DEEMED UNLAWFUL FOR ANY PERSON TO USE OR OCCUPY THIS STRUCTURE FORTHWITH**

**DATE: JUN 12 1954**

“Awesome. Why wouldn’t I end up in the creepiest place on planet Earth?” Jess grumbled. She climbed down the stairs and she saw something interesting on the wall.

_Looks like someone covered it up with a metal sheet. And not doing a very good job because it looks so obvious. Hm. He probably didn’t expect to be followed._

She put her flashlight on the ground and gritted her teeth. “Come. On!” She managed to move the sheet aside with a considerable effort and she was overjoyed when she saw a way in.

“Ugh.” She dropped down to the floor with a grunt. “Alright…”

She was in what looked like some kind of basement. Rusty pipes hang overhead and the damp, moldy smell assaulted her nose. She looked around and saw a big hole on top of the ceiling, but she couldn’t reach it.

“Shit!” Jess muttered in frustration, feeling trapped. “Okay, there’s probably another way to reach that opening…”

She walked around to the back and looked up to see a walk around ramp. Now her problem was how she could reach it.

She spotted a barrel and thought it should be enough to support her body weight if she stood on top of it. Jess pushed the barrel under the ramp with a heavy grunt and panted when she was done. “Great, more climbing.” She groused.

She walked carefully, not wanting to make too much noise, and balanced herself when she had to cross a small runway that stretched from the ramp to the other side of the room. When she crossed the room, she looked up to the big hole and stood on top of a refrigerator someone put below it. _Wow, how convenient._

She looked around nervously, afraid that she will be cornered. She didn’t see anything or heard any movement so she concluded it was safe enough to come out. Jess put her flashlight on the ground near the hole and pulled herself up.

“Whoa… this is different…”

She looked around to see herself standing in a ruined hall of the Sanatorium. One of the pillars had fallen and there were rubbles everywhere. The ceiling had a lot of holes and snow and moonlight both spilled into the ground. Jess shivered. _Of course I can’t escape from the snow, not even inside a huge fucking building._

She was looking around when she heard a sound. “What’s that?”

The blonde walked toward the source of sound. _Of course Jess, walk straight to the suspicious noise in a creepy building; I’m such a brainless horror movie protagonist cliché,_ she thought. But if she wanted to get to the bottom of things and get her revenge on the one that killed Mike, then she would do anything it takes.

The sound was coming from behind a door with the sign ‘ **CHAPEL. SECURITY PASS REQUIRED** ’ and a peephole above it. She peeked through it and saw the man throwing bones to his dogs—wolves? Jess didn’t know. Soon after, the animals followed the man and Jess couldn’t see them anymore.

She tried to open the door but it was locked. _Right. Need a pass to open. Fantastic._

Jess groaned. _This is just what I need right now, to go in a search mission for a fucking pass card._ _It’s just like that old school Resident Evil game that Mike—_

She bit her lips at the thought of him; the surge of pain hit her chest like a flurry of punches. God, it was just yesterday they were playing games together and now Mike was _dead_ and Jess chased after his killer while half freezing and unarmed.

What went wrong?

She swore it was a very cruel and twisted form of karma for ‘stealing’ Mike from Emily—you can’t blame her, the guy was hot and she always had a little bit of a crush on him, even if she didn’t blatantly showed it like Hannah did. She always thought Mike and Emily didn’t even like each other that much and they were just together because they enjoyed being a power couple.

Maybe that’s why she planned that prank –

Jess shook her head. _This is not the time to be thinking about it._

She continued walking hoping to find another way in or the pass needed to open the door. She walked through the only corridor that hadn’t been buried by the rubbles marked ‘ **ADMIN** ’.

She saw a ‘ **MORGUE** ’ arrow sign pointing to the left. _A morgue, are you serious? Could this place get any creepier?_

Not wanting to see 50-year old corpses, she shivered and went straight. She entered the room and looked around. An old, yellowed newspaper caught her attention and she picked it up.

**THE ALBERTA POST**

**9th JANUARY 1952**

**REPORTER ASSAULTED ON BLACKWOOD MOUNTAIN**

Jess quickly skimmed through it. It looked like a reporter was assaulted and hospitalized after seeking an interview with the newly rescued trapped miners. “Oh god, it was here, isn’t it?” She muttered nervously. _Of course it could get creepier, I just fucking jinxed it. Idiot._

She didn’t see anything noteworthy, and there wasn’t a sign of anything that could resemble a pass, so with a heavy heart she realized she had to go to the only other room left in this sector: the morgue.

“Fuck, if this turns into that terrible dead walking show that Mike loved, I’m outta here.” Jess groaned while exiting the room. “God, why would the morgue located in the basement? Fuck, isn’t the fact that there’s a morgue in this fucking place already creepy enough? Fuck my life. Am I in a horror movie or something? Jesus Christ.” She whined. Not to mention, her flashlight had started to dim. She prayed it wouldn’t go out so soon.

She saw a machete embedded on a table in one of the rooms that she nearly passed. “Oh fuck yeah! I’m not even complaining about how strangely convenient this is. I’m not gonna look for a gifted horse in the mouth… or however that saying goes.”

She opened the unhinged door and pulled it out. Finally, something to defend herself with.  Jess’ hand shook a bit while testing it out, but the machete’s handle was firm and it wasn’t too heavy.

She continued towards the back and saw a curtain. She pulled it back to see what looked like a restraining chair with old bloodstains on top of it. “What the fuck?! Ugh, what happened here?!” She wrinkled her nose in disgust. The faint copperish smell was grossing her out.

After searching the room and finding nothing else she decided to continue exploring. She thought she heard something (someone?) growled, so she stopped to listen in for a minute. The only sound she heard was her own shallow breathing and her teeth chattering from the cold.

She walked past a creepy waving hand glued to some sort of table and there was a note dangling from the fingers. She tore her eyes away from it with a nervous sigh. “Ugh, I know I’m not that bright but even I won’t fall to an obvious trap like that.”

A question was nagging in the front of her mind: it was a trap, but for whom? After all, the only person other than her who had been here was the man with the dogs, and it’s not like he knew she was following him, right?

“Jesus, what is this place? It just keeps getting better and better.” She whined the moment she saw a fucking _head_ in a jar. _Fuck, that skull doesn’t even look human for fuck sake. This is some crazy shit straight out of the Twilight Zone._

Jess looked around some more in hopes of finding the damn key, only to see rows of closed body drawers on the wall. She resisted the urge to cry. “Do I seriously have to look inside of them to find the freaking pass? Is this really happening right now? What did I do to deserve this shit?!”

She pulled a random drawer and shivered when the cold air from it blasted her face. _Holy shit, the smell! This is so disgusting!_

Jess gritted her teeth and pulled the gurney. No corpse, thankfully, but there was a registration of death of someone called Sarah Smith who died at February 24th 1952, and her intestines and kidneys was eaten by her attacker. Jess recoiled and dropped the paper back in disgust. _This place was so fucked up._

She opened another drawer. It was empty, but there was a tag on the gurney with the name of Nicholas Bowen, who was fatally attacked by another inmate and who died of lacerations to the throat. The blonde wrinkled her nose and just dropped the tag again, continuing her search.

With a heavy sigh, she opened another. This time, she wasn’t so lucky. A corpse was lying on it and Jess nearly gagged when a rat scurried out from inside of the corpse’s mouth. “Ew, ew, ew, fucking shit, fuck! Please tell me this is just a dream and I’m actually sleeping in my room!” She rubbed her face in frustration. But for once the universe took pity on her: the corpse had the chapel pass pinned on its uniform. _That was something._

Jess picked up the pass and put it in her jeans pocket. She approached another door with the sign ‘ **CHAPEL SECURITY PASS REQUIRED** ’ and hoped with all her might that it would work and wasn’t ruined after all this time, or all of the corpse groping would be in vain.

It worked. Jess sighed in relief and entered the room. She climbed up the stairs when a dog barked at her. “Oh fu—“She jumped in surprise and ran to the stairs. The dog kept chasing her. “Oh shit oh shit—“Jess jumped two steps of the stairs at the same time and ran back towards the chapel. She finally closed the first door she found behind her, just before the dog pounced and avoiding getting bit – and possibly eaten - to death.

“Oh god, fuck me.” Jess panted, her heart still racing after the impromptu chase. She could still hear the dog barking behind the door but it stopped after a minute. _Jesus, was that one of that man’s dogs?! Wild fucker nearly bit me to death!_

She looked through the window and saw the man in the chapel. “Well, isn’t this a quaint little psycho crib.” She muttered. The man went through a door and Jess couldn’t see him anymore.

She stepped back from the window and dropped down to the ground floor. She was back in the ruined hall where she was earlier.

She used the chapel pass to open the door and nearly fell on her ass in surprise when she saw a dog staring at her near the entrance. It growled, but at least it didn’t pounce at her.

“Okay, okay.” Jess slowly walked around the dog. “Easy, boy.” The dog turned away and sat down, convinced that she wasn’t a threat. “Good boy.”

The room was a mess, but it had some sort of makeshift table from a barrel, couch, an armchair, and a desk. On top of the barrel, Jess found a cigar box with the same cigar she and Mike saw back on the mine. “Ah, stogie stash exposed.” _Looks like this is where the freak lives, but how the hell he could get cigars in the middle of nowhere? What the fuck._

She then opened a box near the altar to see a pile of bones inside. “Maybe I could give it to the dog?” She wondered aloud and took one of the bones and held it under her flashlight. She was more of a cat person but she couldn’t deny the dog was kinda cute, if you ignored the dirty and smelly fur.

Jess approached it carefully. It lifted its head and growled at her, but it was mostly focused on the bone. She whistled and threw it in front of the dog. Upon closer inspection she realized that no, it wasn’t a dog, but a wolf. _Jesus fuck, do wolves eat human?! Shit, I hope the bone is filling enough for him because I don’t want to get eaten!_

The wolf chomped down the bone in a few bites and looked at her warily. Jess approached him carefully and tried to pet him. “Easy boy. Good boy.” He let her pat his head and sat back down, dozing after the meal. Jess smiled. That was risky, but it turned well and she didn’t feel so alone now.

She looked around and nearly cried when she saw a jacket hang outside one of the side rooms. “Sweet baby Jesus, thank god! I can barely feel my arms!” Jess quickly put the jacket on and tried to ignore the musty smell. It soon warmed her up and she felt more alive than she did three minutes ago. She also took a lantern and a lighter, glad to have more source of light other than her nearly dead flashlight. She turned it off, put it in the jacket’s pocket, and used the lantern instead.

_Okay, now time to confront that shithead. I have a machete so at least I won’t be defenseless if he tries anything on me._

She kicked the rusty lock as hard as she could. It broke after a few kicks and Jess considered calling the wolf to go with her. _But what if that asshole commands him to bite me? Better not take chances, I guess._

Jess descended towards the stairs and found herself in some sort of back room. She found another locked door and hit it with her machete, but it wouldn’t budge. Frustrated and not wanting to break her only mean of defense, she turned back to look for another way.

 

* * *

 

 

**CHRIS**

**UPPER CABLE CAR STATION**

**01:05**

 

“I still can’t believe Sam is dead.” Ashley whispered. _I killed her I’m sorry I’m sorry—_

“I still can’t believe how she died, and I was right beside her.” _I can never forget it oh Jesus—_

“God, I don’t know if I can ever unsee it.” The redhead moaned and wiped away the stray tears on her face. Chris held her free hand but said nothing and kept walking.

Soon they came across the cable car station. Ashley gasped when they saw the station was _torn in half_.

Metal sheets and broken glasses were everywhere, and even the door was pulled from its hinge. They ran inside to see the operator room was also thrashed and the machine that controlled the cable car was thrown across the room.

“Oh god, oh god, what the hell?! Chris, what-what’s going on?!” Ashley gripped Chris’ hand in fear. _Oh god no! How could we get help if we can’t go down the mountain?!_

The blond gulped and looked around nervously. “I don’t know! W-who could’ve done this?” _Who the hell strong enough to did this?! Oh god was it the psycho?!_

“Chris, I’m scared…”

“Me too, Ash. But…” He gulped. “But we have to get help. There’s a psycho on the loose and we need to get out of here, fast.”

“Yeah, b-but how?”

“Okay, we need to calm down and look around for something that might help us, you know? We can’t panic right now.” Chris stared at Ashley’s teary eyes gently. “Let’s check the operator room, okay? Maybe we could find something useful.” _Ok. Calm down, there might be something that fucker missed. Panicking won’t do us any good now._

“Okay. You’re right.” Chris squeezed Ashley’s hand in encouragement and looked around for something that might help them.

Ashley spotted what looked like to be a half torn map in the corner of the room. “Chris, look!”

“Holy shit, is that what I think it is?”

“A map, Chris!” _Crap, it’s torn, but at least I can still see other locations._ The small redhead squinted. “Hey look… there’s another way. Maybe that old fire tower will have a radio or something?” She pointed out.

“Probably, yeah. I mean, they probably used to call for rangers if something happened, right?” Chris rubbed his chin.

“Yeah, okay. Somebody’s gotta pick up the signal.” Ashley said, trying to be optimistic. _Oh god, finally a silver lining!_

“Well. Good job, Ash. Let’s hope it works.” Chris grinned. _I’m so proud of her right now._

They walked out from the operator room to the side of the station. He helped her pull down the emergency ladder and let Ashley climb down the ladder first.

“Don’t look down, okay?”

The redhead nodded silently while slowly making their way around the edge. She nearly slipped on an ice patch but Chris caught her quickly with his arm around her waist. “Holy shit, you alright?!” _Fuck, I’m glad I caught her right on time. I don’t want to think about the other possibility._

“Yeah, oh my god, thanks a lot Chris! B-but maybe you should go first? I-I’m scared…” _Jesus, I thought I was gonna fall! God, I’d die if it wasn’t for him…_

“Okay, hold on.” Chris switched their positions so now he was the one in the front. They continued to shimmy slowly, afraid of another near fall. “Okay, alright, easy now…” He finally reached the other side.

“I’m feeling kinda faint…” _Oh god, height is so scary I’m so dizzy right now—_

“Don’t look down! I’m here, so c’mon!” He reached to the shivering redhead and pulled her from the small runway.

“Oh thank god it’s over!”

“Yeah! I’m glad we made it.”

They climbed up the stairs and walked together while holding hands. Chris’ flashlight app didn’t do much against the darkness surrounding them and they didn’t dare to walk too far from each other.

“Chris… what if it doesn’t work?”

“What?”

“The radio.”

“It’ll work.” He said, trying to reassure them both. _It has to work._

Ashley shook her head. “Okay, but if it doesn’t, we need a plan.” _As much as I’m trying to be optimistic, we’ll have to prepare for the worst…_

“Maybe we can just climb down?”

“What, the mountain?”

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not like it’s floating in the sky.”

“Chris, we will get lost and die of exposure or wild animals or starvation without lights or supplies or weapons!” Ashley said in frustration. _Seriously, Chris?! Do you want us to die?!_

“Sorry. You’re right, but hopefully it won’t come to that.”

“You think that psycho is just gonna go away?”

“Probably not, but… maybe we should find a safe spot, you know, hole up, wait it out. It’ll be a lot easier to figure this all out in the morning.”

“As long as we don’t hide in the lodge. That’s where he expects us to go.” _God, the lodge. I hope Matt and Em and Josh are okay._

“God, I hope Josh is okay. I feel so bad leaving him like this.” Chris choked. _I’m sorry bro, I’m so sorry…_

“Look, Matt and Em are gonna get him, so don’t worry too much, okay?”

“I know, but-but he’s my best friend and I-I just left him…” _I’m such a coward; I should go back to the lodge with Matt and Emily—_

“Chris, if we went with them, who would get help? This way, we could ensure we all gonna get out of this mountain soon, so don’t beat yourself up.” Ashley squeezed Chris’ hand.

The blond sighed. “You’re right. Okay. Okay.”

They found themselves on a cliff that overlooked the mountains. Ashley saw a broken warning board on the ground. “Watch your step, Chris.”

“Yeah, of course.”

They looked around for another way when they heard a screech. “Chris, what’s that?!”

“I-I don’t know…”

They heard footsteps and soon they found themselves surrounded by a herd of deer on the edge of the cliff.

 

* * *

 

 

**JOSH**

**WASHINGTON LODGE**

**01:11**

 

Josh stared at the ceiling in silence and felt his body numb with exhaustion. He was cuddling Hannah’s banana pillow that was soaked wet with his tears.

He couldn’t help but to replay the recent events over and over again on his mind. A part of him wished it was real, that it was really Beth communicating with them, but the other part of him wanted everything to be a joke, a fucking sick prank that his friends played on him. The séance brought back the turmoil he thought was gone and it brought him to the edge. His vision was blurry. The rage, guilt, and grief; it was all consuming him at the same time.

After a year, he really thought he was okay and over everything. Constant visits to a slew of therapists, a ton of pills swallowed, and a three months stay in mental hospital should’ve helped him get it over with. But apparently it was all for nothing.

He often wished he could stopped caring about them so much if only to eased the pain and guilt and self hatred inside him. They didn’t like each other and they fought a lot, especially with Beth since their personality clashed and they both were hot-tempered and stubborn. She was also obviously their father’s favorite and Josh always resented her for that.

Every time Josh did something, he had to do twice more than Beth and Hannah to even be acknowledged by their father. He didn’t know what made them so special in their father’s eyes. Was it because of Hannah’s great accomplishment in tennis? Was it Beth’s savant-like ability in math and memorizing things in general? What was it?

Or maybe it was because they were normal and didn’t need a shit ton of crazy pills and therapists on speed dial?

He supposed he will never know now.

He could hear the voice taunting him about them right now ( _Poor little Joshy crying like a little bitch, you’re so useless, how come your mother didn’t drown you at birth? Your parents would’ve been happier and your sisters would be alive now—_ ). It was always there since he was little, and he was getting used to it. He had to, if he wanted to stay alive.

But ever since that night, the taunts were getting worse ( _It should’ve been you instead of them, it’s all your fault that they’re gone, you’re just a waste of time and space for everyone, no one will care if you disappeared, it should be you—_ ). He couldn’t help but agree with the voice. If only he didn’t get drunk that night.

But of course he had to follow Sam around like a puppy. He thought he would get closer to her if they both got drunk, and Chris even drank with him as moral support. What a stupid idea.

If only he had known what would happen later. He should’ve known and should’ve seen it coming because his friends can be really mean when they wanted to be, especially when they were drunk. Of course they would pick on Hannah. Naïve, gullible Hannah.

He should’ve been there protecting them both, even if they didn’t want him to. He was their big brother for fuck sake. The one time they needed him and he couldn’t even do that. What a useless brother.

He should’ve stopped Hannah from running into the blizzard, should’ve helped Beth look for her, should’ve beat up Mike for even thinking about going along with the prank. Who cares if Mike was bigger and stronger than him and probably kicked his scrawny ass in one punch? He should’ve done something instead of sitting bleary-eyed and half-awake while Jess babbled about how Hannah ran to the blizzard and Beth ran after her without thinking.

The worst part was that he didn’t even know what happened to them at the end. Were they dead? Were they alive and ran away because they realized how useless he was and got so sick of him and didn’t want to see him anymore?

The police hadn’t found their remains. It was like they disappeared into thin air. He had hoped the police would’ve at least found Hannah’s glasses or Beth’s watch, anything, but they found nothing and declared them missing, just like that.

It hurts.

He needed some closure. He needed to make peace with the fact that Beth and Hannah were gone.

That’s why he agreed with Sam’s idea to come back in the first anniversary of that horrible night. He wanted, no, he _needed_ his friends to heal with him because he understand that they must feel as guilty as he did, maybe even more.

That’s why he found it in himself to forgive Jess, Emily, and Mike, because even if it hurts, they never meant for them to get killed. They were mean, petty, and selfish, but they were never downright malicious. He remembered that they were okay (or at least didn’t reject him) with his illness, which is more than he could say about his father. His mother ignored him at best or told him that he was an embarrassment to the family at worst. He was lucky they still paid for his treatment all this time.

He was glad that he had found support throughout the years from his friends. He knew they didn’t really understand what he had been through except for maybe Chris, but he was still grateful all the same. Everyone had helped him one way or another, whether it was to remind him to take his meds (which he often ignored) or to calm him down when his hallucination kicked in. He owed them a lot.

It was a hard process, but when he finally forgave them, he felt like his chest got a bit lighter. It was like a part of his grief left him and he could breathe easier now.

He stood up and gave Hannah’s room a last longing look. He needed to find his friends now that he calmed down. They would talk about what happened at the séance instead of avoiding it like the past Josh would have done. He needed them, and they needed him, so even if he couldn’t be there for Hannah and Beth, he would make sure that he was there for his friends.

He closed the door and sighed deeply.

Pain exploded on his head and darkness enveloped him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally I'm done with Sanatorium. God, I hate it so much. I hate pretty much all of Mike's part (and the fact that I don't like him doesn't help at all) and even changing it to Jess still makes my eyes bleed. 
> 
> No shotgun for Jess, sorry. The part where Mike got a sawed-off shotgun with infinite ammo, zero recoil, and no ricochet at the close range really destroyed the suspension of disbelief for me. I was actually waiting for the pellets to hit Mike when he shot the lock >.> Alas, I was disappointed. Also, why would he shot the lock near oil barrels?! Good idea! Let's burn down everything, including yourself! Dumbass.
> 
> Handigo destroyed the cable car station because, well, why not? She was smart enough to use Jess' smartphone (still waiting for explanation on how her claws didn't destroy the touch screen and did she even had body heat to activated it in the first place?!) so I think she was smart enough to trap them in the mountain. 
> 
> Josh's part basically just some backstory I had about him. He locked himself in Hannah's room to cry, which was slightly more believable than bathing for 2 hours... and the water still hot, somehow... lol wat. Anyway, I hope it shed some light about him and his situation. If he was OOC... oops? 
> 
> Next chapter is on the 20th.


	7. Vengeance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit's going down.

**FIVE HOURS UNTIL DAWN**

**CHRIS**

**CLIFFTOP**

**02:03**

 

The deer were screaming at them, which prompted Chris and Ashley to step backwards. Ashley clutched Chris’ arm in fear.

“Chris, what should we do?” She stared at the herd, wide-eyed in fear. _Oh god, why are they surrounding us?!_

“Stay calm… they’re just deer… maybe they just want to check us out is all.” He whispered. _Oh shit, this looks bad…_

“A-are you sure?”

“Pretty sure.” _Fuck, there’s a cliff behind us, I don’t want to reenact Lion King when I barely escaped real life Saw! Goddamnit!_

“O-okay, I believe you.” _Please let him be right, oh god I’m scared—_

Chris nodded at the trembling redhead and started walking towards the deer. He walked as calmly as he could through the middle of the herd. They cleared the path and watched him from the sidelines. One of them got too close for his liking and sniffed him, but didn’t do anything else.

He turned to face Ashley. “Just walk slow, come on. It’s okay.” _Oh thank god they’re harmless, fuck me._

She nodded and followed Chris. They went through the herd without incident and soon they found themselves on a snowy path.

“If we do manage to get someone on the radio—“

“We will—“

“Then we tell them we need help.” Chris nodded at Ashley’s words. “What do we do while we wait?”

“We go back to the lodge and get everyone else.”

“Oh god, not the lodge.” Ashley moaned. “We should stay here. You know, in case whoever it is needs to get back in touch with us?” The thought of going back there, where a psycho took Chris and Sam and killed—

Ashley shivered. No, she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t go back there.

“Well, let’s get that radio working first.” _God, I hope Matt and Em will get Josh soon, I’m so worried…_

Soon, they found themselves in front of the old fire tower and Chris inspected the ladder leading up to the tower. It was rusty, but as long as they were careful and didn’t cut themselves on it then they should be fine.

They climbed carefully to the top and Ashley groaned. “Ugh, why is it so windy all of the sudden?”

“Must be because we’re high up. We’re almost inside, at least.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s so cold.” Ashley sighed and opened the latch to get inside. Chris followed her and closed it tightly. “You okay?”

She nodded and looked around the tower. “Chris, look, the radio!” _Oh thank god it’s here!_

“Great!” He pushed the button a few times. “Why is it not working?!” _Aw shit, no!_

“Maybe the power’s out?”

“Oh, right.” He smiled sheepishly. Ashley chuckled and went outside to look for the fuse box. She found it almost right away, near the door. She praised whatever god was out there and turned it on. Chris gave a triumphant shout from inside. “Ash, it worked!”

“Oh thank god.” The redhead sighed happily and went back inside. Things were finally looking up for once. Chris fiddled with the radio and they heard someone talking.

“—ranger service for Blackwood County. Over.”

“H-hello? Can anyone hear me? Please, we need help!” Chris said.  _Oh thank god someone’s picking up!_

“…Hello?”

“Can you hear me? We need help!” _Please tell me the mic is not fucked up..._

“Hello, is someone trying to contact us? This is the park ranger service for Blackwood County. I’m not getting your signal very well. Please speak slowly and clearly, over.”

“Sir, we need your help! We’re stuck on Blackwood Mountain with the cable car station destroyed, and-and there’s a maniac that k-killed my friend—“He flinched. _God, Sam. You don’t deserve it and I’m so, so sorry—_

“If you can hear this, please repeat your message as I am unable to understand what you are saying, over.”

“We need help, please!” _Why is this not working for fuck’s sake?!_

“Hello? Can you please identify yourself? Over.”

“Okay, um, my name’s Christopher Dempsey—“

“You’re not coming through clearly, please repeat, over.” _Jesus fucking Christ, this is just fucking perfect._

Chris rubbed his face in exasperation. “Sir, we’re on Blackwood Mountain by the ski lodge and th-there’s a killer after us and-and he already killed one of our friends… Please, you gotta help us…”

“I read you, sir. Please do not leave your position. We will send out helicopters to get you as soon as the storm has subsided, over.” _Oh thank fuck! …Wait, what? Did he say we have to wait?!_

“What?! When?! How long?!” _Fuck! What if we’re already dead by then?!_

“Not until dawn, over.”

Before Chris could reply, the latch was rattling violently, like someone tried to break in. “What the fuck is that?!”  Ashley squeaked. _Oh god no he’s here the maniac he’s here fuck, fuck, fuck!_

“Shit!”

The latch continued to rattle and it suddenly stopped. Chris and Ashley looked at each other in a mix of confusion and relief.

“Is he gone?” She whispered, hopeful. _Please, please leave us alone oh my god what did I do to deserve this—_

“I don’t know.” He whispered back. _Shit, I don’t like this, it’s too quiet…_

They heard a loud groaning sound and all of a sudden the tower was shifting and everything was falling down.

“Chris, what the hell is happening?!” _No, no, no!_

“The tower!” _What did he do?! Fuck!_

“Oh god!”

“Shit, don’t move!”

Chris was thrown into the window and nearly shattered it. “Chris! No!” Ashley was hanging from the other window across the room, fearing for her life and Chris’.

He opened his eyes blearily. His head was pounding even more thanks for the hit on top of his concussion. He turned around to check on Ashley and barely managed to dodge the falling radio. It shattered the glass and Chris fell through the hole it left.

“Fuck me!” He desperately grabbed the rail. “Shit!” This time he wasn’t able to dodge a fallen printer and it hit him right on his forehead. He could feel the blood pouring from the gash and his vision blurred from the impact. _Oh god no I’m going to die!_

The tower continued falling until it collapsed entirely to the ground.

 

* * *

 

 

**ASHLEY**

**MINES**

**02:43**

 

“Shit, fuck!” The small redhead tried to make her way out from the fallen tower and looked around for Chris. Everything was fucked up and the tower was starting to catch fire. She could only hope he was okay.

“Chris, where are you?!” She called for him, her voice wobbly in fear and exhaustion. _Please let him be okay oh my god—_

“ASHLEY, HELP!”

“I’m coming! Hold on!” _Oh thank god he’s alive oh Jesus—_

Ashley finally saw Chris outside of the tower barely holding on to the rail. His face was pale from fear, and he had a bloody nose and a huge bloody gash on his forehead. “Chris, this is pretty unsteady here!” _Oh god he’s bleeding oh no—_

“Ash, you gotta help me, please!” Chris pleaded with a shaky voice. _Please, please don’t let me fall; I need you oh god Ashley—_

“Okay, I’m gonna try and get to you and pull you up, just hold on!” She hoped with all her might that she could save him, and she would do whatever it took. _Oh god please I have to save him—_

“Hurry up, I think it’s gonna collapse even more, Ash please!”

“Take my hand—“Before Chris could even take Ashley’s outstretched hand, the tower shifted dangerously when she crouched. “Shit, Chris!”

Chris was now dangling one handed with a black abyss below him. He nearly pissed himself with the thought of falling down to his death, forgotten and lost forever.

“Ashley!” She looked around quickly and found what looked like a ramp. She knew that if she stayed there, she would only make everything worse. She’d tip the tower even more and very likely caused them both to fall to their deaths.

So she took the only option she had. It was the only way.

“I-I don’t wanna tip it!” She panicked. “Chris, I’m gonna jump to that ramp and I’ll pull you from there, okay?!”

“Fine, hurry up oh my god I don’t wanna die!”

When Ashley jumped to the ramp, the sudden movement and the imbalance caused the tower to fall completely to the mine.

“NOOO!”

 

* * *

 

 

**EMILY**

**WASHINGTON LODGE**

**02:03**

 

“He wasn’t up there?” _Shit, where the hell is that asshole? I just want to get out of here now!_

“I don’t know… I didn’t see him. He must have come down here.” _Where the hell is he? Is he hiding somewhere? What the fuck?_

“I haven’t seen him either. Ugh, is Josh even here in the first place?” Emily grumbled. This whole situation was messed up and the only thing she wanted right now was to get out of there as fast as she could.

_Goddamnit Josh, where are you? This is not a good time to go sulking on your own. Fuck, why do I have to be friends with drama queens? First Hannah and then Josh, is a flair for the dramatic runs in the family? Jesus._

They walked down to the basement. “I wonder if Chris and Ash were telling the truth.” _I still can’t believe Sam’s dead; it’s just… no way._

Matt raised his eyebrows. “Why would they lie about that, Em?” He knew his friends liked to fool around, but not like this. Never like this.

“I don’t know… something fishy is going on. What if they just pulled a prank on us? We should’ve checked the shed before.”

He looked nauseous at the thought. “And if they weren’t lying, we’d see Sam’s body. Definitely not something I can forget.” _Jesus, I’m lucky I’m not in Chris’ and Ash’s place. I really, really don’t want to see it—_

“I know! I’m just saying. This night is weird.” She ran her hand through her hair in frustration.

“Yeah, I just wanna get everyone and bail, you know?”

“Ugh, I kinda regret coming up here.” She sighed. “I wish we could just go find everyone else and—“Sure, Josh was her friend, but she didn’t know if he was worth putting her own life on the line. Why did she agree to look for Josh? Damn it.

 _Because you owe him,_ her guilty conscience said. Emily shook her head.

“Em, what if Josh needs us? What if he’s in trouble?” Matt interjected gently. “We can’t leave him alone with a psycho running around!” He saw how bad Josh could get, and he didn’t want to think about him getting an episode with a psycho on the loose.

“Ugh.” Emily groaned. “Fine. Fine, let’s go find Josh.” _I swear to god, Josh, if you’re dead I’m gonna bring you back to life just to kill you again myself._

Matt smiled slightly. Winning an argument against Emily was always something to rejoice over, even in a situation like this.

He led the way to the basement. They found a door on the corner and went through it cautiously.

“You think he’s here?”

“Who knows, but we gotta look for him. Where else is he gonna be?”

“This is getting creepier by the second.” She muttered.

They walked past a table with cardboard boxes, papers, and scissors on it. Quickly, Emily grabbed one of the scissors and put it inside her jeans’ pocket. It never hurt to be cautious.

“Em, there’s another room through here.” Matt called.

“Why is this, like, ruined? What the hell is this lodge connected to?” She frowned, observing the place. The décor didn’t look at all like it was meant to be a part of the house. “I don’t like this, Matt. We should go back.” _The hell? Where is this? And where’s Josh? Fuck this shit._

“Look, Josh needs us, okay? I think he’s in trouble or something. I have a bad feeling about this.” _I think we walked into something ominous here… shit, I don’t like this, but we can’t leave Josh either._

“Fine. But you have to protect me, okay big guy?” She smiled slightly, trying to make light of the situation.

“You don’t even have to ask, babe.” He boasted. He’s strong, he can do this, and he can protect Emily and himself. He swore he wouldn’t let anything or anyone hurt her.

They walked through the ruined corridor with Matt leading the way. “Where the hell are we now?” He said in confusion. They were in another building altogether from what they could tell.

“Matt, this is like a hotel or something. I had no idea this was here.” She shivered. “I just… I just want to forget last year ever happened, and now this is happening to us…” She didn’t believe in karma, but now there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that this is karma biting her in the ass.

“To be honest, I’m not sure what I should think. I don’t even know the whole story. No one ever really told me what happened.” _Everyone always avoided the subject; even Ash only told me the minimum details…_

“Ugh! It was just a stupid prank gone wrong! Who knew she was gonna run out to the blizzard?” Emily pinched the bridge of her nose. _Seriously, who in their right mind did that?!_ “I thought she was just gonna hide in one of the bathrooms or something! And we wouldn’t even publish the video, because that was just a lawsuit waiting to happen!” _It was just to shake her up! It wasn’t my fault she ran half-naked outside!_

“But don’t you think it was like, over-the-top? Hannah wasn’t exactly, you know, tough.” _That’s still a cruel thing to do, though, even if they didn’t publish the video…_

“Maybe, but don’t you dare think she was blameless! That bitch wanted to make a move on Mike, even when she knew he was taken! And when we all stayed in the same place for the whole weekend no less! Are you kidding me?!” _That showed how little she thought of me and how much she wanted to jump Mike. Give her a chance and she’ll fucking bite it like a Rottweiler! Fuck!_

“But you could have just told her to back off instead of pranking her like that.” Matt just couldn’t get in his head how his friends could think something like that was okay. He got along well with Hannah since she was his long time running companion along with Sam and Mike (back before Emily forbid the class president to went running with the sporty gang because of Hannah), and he just couldn’t help but feel like they took advantage of her innocence.

“And you think I didn’t ever tell her?! I did! She wouldn’t listen and continued to obsess over him for months! I thought it wouldn’t bother me too much at first, but she became more annoying and creepy every day! Why do you think Mike and I didn’t hang out a lot with you guys back then?! It wasn’t because of the honeymoon period or whatever the shit you guys thought! It was because I couldn’t stand Hannah’s wounded eyes every time Mike held my hand, and her creepily staring at him every time she thought I looked away! All I wanted was to make her back off, okay?!” She snapped. Of course Matt was taking Hannah’s side, why did she expect otherwise? _Goddamnit, why is no one ever seen it from my perspective?! She knew Mike and I were together, yet she keeps trying to get into his pants! And everyone always took her side even when she was in the wrong! Why am I the bad guy here?! Since when trying to take your friend’s man is acceptable?! Sure, I didn’t love Mike and he’s sure as hell didn’t love me, but the point still stand! I’m not entirely at fault here!_

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Matt threw his hands up in surrender. He had liked Emily for a long while and he guessed he understood how Hannah felt and why she did it— even if he wasn’t obsessed with Emily like her with Mike— but he also understood how uncomfortable that must have been for Emily and why it would anger her. _But I still think it’s wrong… there are other ways to make her back off without resorting to cruel prank like that. Not that it matters now since Hannah is gone…_

“And now, I just wanted to come back and tell Jess it was a stupid idea and just…” Emily’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “I just wish things were different.” She hugged herself and bowed her head. If she could go back to that night and stop Jess, herself and Mike, she would do it in a heartbeat. _Fuck, Hannah. I never liked you that much, but I wish I could take it back. I just want you and Beth to come back._

She bit her lips at the thought of Beth. _I miss you, asshole. Studying is not interesting anymore without you being a pain in my ass._ _Fuck, if we were in the same college you probably tried to one-up me even if we’re in different majors. Dumb bitch._

“Look, Em, I’m sorry for poking a sore spot. I-I didn’t mean to do that…” He touched Emily’s shoulder to calm her down. Matt could see in her face how badly it affected her, even after all this time. She liked to pretend that nothing got to her and that she was above everything, but the truth is that when things did get to her, it will affect her even more than other people.

Matt was dense. He wasn’t good at math or any of the sciences and he forgot things a lot, but he remembered very well that time in fourth grade when he saw Emily for the first time.

He had forgotten his lunch at home and his parents weren’t doing so well since his father just lost his job from company downsizing and his mother’s salary in a start-up IT company was barely enough to pay the bill, so he hadn’t eaten since yesterday’s lunch. He was really hungry and he was staring at people eating around him with a longing look on his face. The cafeteria was serving ‘mystery meat’ now and the last time he tried to eat it, he had stomach ache for three days, so he didn’t want to risk it.

Suddenly, this girl in black fur jacket patted him on the shoulder and gave him a brown bag filled with a tuna sandwich, an apple, a pack of crackers, and a bottle of water with a wink and a little smile. She ran away afterwards while giggling together with a braided brunette and he couldn’t even thank her. He gaped at her direction and he can feel his face flushed hotly.

It was the best meal he had in his short ten years life, and tuna sandwich remained his favorite food to this day. His sister teased him when he told her about the strange girl that gave him lunch, saying that he fell in love at the first sight with her.

Matt never denied it.

Years passed and the kind girl who helped him that day didn’t smile as much anymore, at least not sincerely like back then, but he knew deep inside she had never stopped being that girl no matter how hard and bitchy she was now.

“It’s fine. You asked and I answered.” She said curtly and shrugged him off. “Let’s go find Josh.” She had enough of this place and the memories it brought back.

“Right.” Matt sighed. _Me and my big mouth._

Soon they came across a set of stairs that led underground. “You know what? No. Like hell I’m going down there.” _No, no way. If we get down there we’ll get axed by that maniac—_

“Em—“

“No! I’ve had enough, Matt!”

“Emily, I get it, okay?” He said patiently. “This is freaking me out too. But what if Josh’s down there all alone with this maniac and we just leave, we would be basically killing him ourselves!” _Come on, Em, I know you won’t abandon Josh, you’re better than that._

“Goddamnit.” Emily scowled. _If Josh is really down there I swear I will drag him by his collar and kick his ass back to fucking LA._

“Come on.” He led her down the stairs, Emily muttered under her breath all the while.

“Matt, what the fuck?!” They were in what look like a torture room. There were hooks, saws, and chains, all red with blood. “Jesus, are we in a slaughterhouse?!” She couldn’t help but remember what Ashley and Chris told them, a feeling of dread consuming her. _Oh shit, is this the psycho’s room?! Why is it so close to the lodge?! How long has he been here?! Oh fuck!_

“I don’t know… Maybe these are the psycho’s? I mean Chris and Ash said that he-he killed Sam with a saw blade, right?” _Oh Jesus, we’re in a killer’s room, and all the blood… fuck, I’m gonna get sick—_

“Oh god.” She groaned. _Why is this happening to me?!_

They walked past a bloody pig with a hollowed up body. “Jesus! This is so fucking repulsive!” Emily blanched. _What the fuck?! Who would take a pig’s organs?! That was nasty!_

“Goddamn, this is like a grindhouse movie in here.” Matt winced. He continued to walk and saw a board with photos on it. _Their_ photos, all eight of them caught unaware.

“Em, look!” He pointed out to Sam’s photo that had the eyes crossed out. _Oh god, how the fuck did he get our photos?! Shit, does that mean he already targeted us for a long time?!_

“What is this, a fucking hit list?!” She took a step back. “Fuck, let’s just go already!” She did not want to be crossed out on that picture. Not ever. _Shit, he has already targeted Sam and killed her, and who knows who else that freak wants to kill!_

They soon stood in front of a door with a huge bloodstain on it. “Shit, blood.” Emily whispered in fear.

“Might be Josh’s.” Matt muttered. “Let me see if I can get this…” He opened the door with just enough space to slip in. “This thing is heavy… You gotta come through, I can’t hold it, come on!” He groaned.

“You better hold it down! Don’t let it shut on my face, or else!” Emily warned before she walked through the gap under Matt’s arms. It was a tight squeeze, but she managed to get in.

“Holy shit!” Matt let the door closed noisily behind him. “I thought this thing was gonna crush me!”

They were in some sort of storage room. Dead pigs hung from the hooks all over the place and the floor was red with dried blood. The combined smell of blood and flesh made them gag. Emily covered her nose and averted her eyes. _I’m never eating bacon again. This is disgusting!_

She opened the door and saw a silhouette on the chair. “Oh shit, no…” _Oh fuck, don’t tell me…_

“Is… is that Josh?” _Oh my god, no…_

“Josh?” Emily turned the chair around.

It was Josh. His eyes were closed and his face was deathly pale. His head lolled to the side and his skin felt cold when Emily touched his arm.

“Fuck, is he dead?!”

“Shit.”Emily put a finger on Josh’s neck. A pulse. It was weak, but it was definitely there. “He’s alive.” _Oh thank god, if he’s dead I don’t know if I can—_

“Oh thank god!” _Now we need to get him outta here, we’ll have to wake him up, but if he wouldn’t wake up I guess I can give him a piggyback ride; he’s not that heavy—_

“I think he was just knocked out. Goddamnit Matt, we have to get him outta here!” _Shit, how long has he been knocked out? Fuck, I hope he won’t turn into a drooling idiot when he wakes up. If he wakes up at all…_

Matt didn’t answer. “Ma--?”

When Emily turned around, a masked figure was dropping the unconscious Matt to the ground while holding a bloody baseball bat in his hand. “Shit!” She walked backwards and nearly tripped over Josh’s legs. “Stay back!” _Oh god no no no he’s here he’s coming for me—_

Emily remembered the scissor and quickly took it out of her pocket. She screamed in rage and tried to stab the psycho in the neck, but anger made her miscalculated the distance and momentum so she hit his shoulder instead of his neck. He screamed in pain but quickly regained composure. “Oh no no no, live and learn!”

He punched Emily in the face.

Blackness.

 

* * *

 

 

**MATT**

**OLD HOTEL**

**03:11**

 

An intense pain shot through the back of his head. He winced and tried to touch his head, but he soon found out that he was tied to a chair. Oddly, one of his hands was untied. He rubbed his head with his free hand and he tried to remember where he was and what was happening.

Suddenly, the memories came crashing down to him. The creepy room, the hollowed out pigs, the slaughterhouse tools, and finding Josh unconscious—

“Ugh, fuck, shit, what the hell?! Emily! Emily, are you here?!” He screamed. He could hear a female voice moaning from what he guessed was pain, but his vision was still blurry from the hit so he couldn’t see who it was.

“Emily, is that you?!” _Oh god, what happened to her?!_

“Uhh… M-Matt?” Emily opened her eyes slowly, wincing from the sharp pain on her left eye. _Ow, what the fuck?! And why is my eye hurting like hell?!_

Matt finally can see Emily sitting down across the table with a massive shiner on her face. The sight made his blood boil. He growled and clenched his hands, nails buried deep in his palms.

“I’m gonna fucking murder that piece of shit!” _No one hurt Emily and get away with it!_

“What is this?! What’s happening?!” She wanted to move, but both her legs and wrists were tied up to a chair, and just struggling against it made her feel like she was getting hit with a brick in the head. _Oh god, my head is killing me and I feel so nauseous—_

“That fucker got us! Shit!” He tried to free himself with his free hand, but it was to no avail. The ropes felt like they were glued to his wrist and legs and he couldn’t get out. _So now it’s our turn?! Jesus Christ!_

“Do something, Matt! Don’t just stay there! Get me out of this for fuck’s sake!” She was thrashing in her seat, desperate for a way out. “Help me Matt, what are you waiting for?! I don’t wanna die! I’m not ready to die! Just fucking do something already!” _Goddamnit, why is he just sitting around?! So much for protecting me!_

“No one’s dying Emily, please, try to calm down. Breathe, we’ll be okay, we’ll get out of this—” He didn’t know if he was trying to convince himself or Emily, but either way it wasn’t working. Emily scowled at him.

“Don’t be stupid! Don’t you see that this is the asshole that fucking killed Sam?! We’re gonna die! I don’t wanna die! Stop being so useless and help me get ou—“

“Emily please, listen to me. Calm down, we can get out of this, we will get out of this. Please trust me—“

“You let us get caught, you idiot! How could you?!”

“I’m sorry, Em, but I’ll think of something—“

“Why are you being like this?! Why are you always so nice to me?! You’re such a fucking doormat!”

“Because I love you!” He snapped and stopped trying to untie his other arms. “I love you! I love you ever since you gave me that lunch bag in fourth grade! I love you enough that even if seeing you and Mike hurt a lot, I didn’t say anything because you wanted to be with him! I just wanted you to be happy! Jesus Christ, when you said yes after I asked you out, I felt like a fucking Powerball winner!” Matt tried to hold his tears at bay. “I don’t care that people think you’re a massive bitch because I know you’re more than that! I know deep down you have a good heart and you do care about people! I know you’re still mourning about Beth! I know you’re still hurt over your falling out with Jess! For fuck’s sake, Emily, we grew up together! I’m not blind!”

Emily was stunned.

Love?

He loved her?

Why?

Why would he love someone like her?

The massive bitch that got off from bossing other people around. The neurotic opportunist who will step on people if that means she will get what she want. The joyless husk that only had good grades as her accomplishment.

The girl who destroyed a family in one night with a stupid prank.

“Matt, why?” Emily whispered. “Why me? I don’t… You shouldn’t…”

“Em, I—“Matt started to speak, but Emily cut him off.

“No! Listen to me! I’m not that nice girl that you just described! I’m just a bitch that used you as a fucking rebound because I was lonely and I knew you liked me for a long time! I used your feelings to make me feel better! I don’t deserve your love, so stop—“

The sound of a machine coming to life interrupted them both.  They both looked up and saw two saw blades rotating right above them.

“Oh god, what the fuck is that?!” Emily screamed in terror. _This can’t be happening, why me?!_

“Fuck, fuck, fuck! Jesus shit! Don’t look up Emily, I’ll get us out of this, I won’t let you die, I promi-“

“Hello there, my special little subjects.” A voice interrupted them. It was deep, almost robotic, and inhuman.

“What the fuck?! Who the fuck is that?!” _Oh god I don’t want to die I’m too young to die!_

“Don’t be scared Em, it’ll be okay—” _Fuck, fuck, fuck!_

“Oh, you should be, Em.” The voice mocked. “Because here’s the twist: Your friends have made one fatal choice today, and now, Matt must make another.” Matt jumped at the mention of his name. Emily was frantically looking around, trying to look for the source of the voice.

“Matt, you can take the gun in front of you and shoot Emily, or shoot yourself. Whoever’s left can live. The choice is yours.” The voice purred with sadistic delight.

Matt looked at the little table in front of him. He hadn’t even noticed there was a gun there until the psycho mentioned it. He took it and shot twice at the saws, hoping they would stop.

Nothing happened. _Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. Fuck!_

“Don’t be so silly, Matt.” the voice said, laughing cruelly at him.

The saws were getting closer to their heads.

Emily sobbed. “I’m sorry, Matt. I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry I used you. I’m sorry I was such a bitch to you.” She choked. “You’re weird, Matt. You defy everything that I know about people. You never try to use me and you never take advantage of me. You like me for who I am. That’s so weird.” She gave a teary smile to Matt. “Right when I thought maybe I could like you, this shit happened. God, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being me.”

Her eyes were closed and she bowed her head, hair covering her tear-streaked face. She wouldn’t blame Matt if he shot her to save his own life. If she was in his place, she’d shot herself a thousand times over.

The least she could do was not begging for Matt to not shoot. She wouldn’t give the psycho the satisfaction of hearing her begging for her life.

BANG!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not really happy with this chapter. Oh well.
> 
> Chris' surname came from Noah Fleiss' role as Luke Dempsey in an episode of Fringe.
> 
> Sorry for the numerous head injuries, Chris. Whoops.
> 
> Don't forget, Hannah tried to be Mike's side chick when she clearly knew that he was with Emily. It didn't excuse the prank done by the kids to her, but Hannah wasn't the innocent snowflake that everyone always said, at least in my opinion. Both sides were wrong.
> 
> Next chapter is coming out soon. (Hopefully.)


	8. Violence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mystery was slowly revealed.

**FOUR HOURS UNTIL DAWN**

**JOSH**

**WASHINGTON LODGE BASEMENT**

**03:05**

 

“Josh…”

Josh’s eyes fluttered open. He felt dizzy and weak, and his head felt like someone just bashed it to the wall. His vision was blurry, and he couldn't remember where he was or what was happening.

“Josh, wake up!”

Josh finally focused his vision long enough to see Jess staring at him from behind a set of bars. “Jess, is that you?” He looked around in confusion. _What the hell?! Where am I?! What happened to me?!_

“Shh!” She shushed, her eyes darted left and right frantically, as if she was looking for someone.

“What?” He whispered. _God, my head hurts so fucking bad, and I really want to puke, what the fuck happened to me?!_

“Get over here!” The blonde gestured.

Josh tried to get up before he realized he was tied to a chair. Upon further notice, turns out it was a rolling chair, so he slowly and carefully made his way towards Jess so the chair wouldn’t made a sound and alerted whoever sick fuck had tied him up. _First the ouija fuckery and now this shit?! Who would do this to me?! What did I do?! And where are the others?!_

“Turn around, I’m gonna cut the rope.” She demanded.

He turned around slowly and gulped when he felt a sharp knife grazing his wrists. “Ow!” He yelled in pain.

“Sorry! Now go untie your legs!” She gave her knife to Josh from between the bars that turned out to be a fucking machete, and he used it to cut the rope around his legs.

“Damn, those things were tight…” He winced when he felt blood rushing back to his arms and legs. “Shit, Jess, I’m glad you’re here.” He rubbed his arms and made a face when the wound from Jess’ machete started to bleed.

“Me too, Josh. Jesus, this night is so fucked up.” She rubbed her face in exhaustion. She didn't even know how she made her way here. Finding Josh tied to a chair and knocked out was such a surprise _. Must have been that fucking maniac, was killing Mike not enough?!_

“How’d you get down here? Or… wherever this is.”

“Long story. Short version is that there’s a fucking maniac up here in the mountain. He’s trying to kill us all, and-and…” Jess choked out a sob. “He already got Michael…” _I’m so, so sorry, Mike…_

“What?! Shit, what the fuck happened?!” _No way, no way that asshole died—_

“Someone dragged him from the cabin to the mines and I chased that asshole to the old Sanatorium up in the mountain. I followed the path here. Jesus, Josh, don’t you know your lodge is connected with the Sanatorium?!”

“Fuck no!” He winced when his head started to hurt again. “Shit, I think that psycho knocked me out with a fucking brick or something. Jesus.” His visions were getting blurry again and his head was pounding like hell. He squinted to look at Jess who looked like a yellow blob for him.

“Goddamnit!” _Fuck, he probably has concussion. Shit!_

“What the fuck is going on?! Why are we being targeted by that shithead?!”

“Fuck if I know.” She sighed. “Look, there’s a door but I can’t open it from here. Can you unlock it from your side?”

“Okay, wait.” He stood up and waited for the room to stop spinning before he walked out slowly. He removed the wooden bar from the door that Jess pointed out and opened it.

 Jess’ worried face greeted him and she hugged him tightly. Josh returned her hug awkwardly—he was never a touchy-feely person—but he was relieved to see a familiar face.

“Girl, slow down, I don’t wanna puke on you.” He pulled out from the hug and rubbed the back of his head. Blood smeared his fingers and he can feel a lump back there.

“Jesus, Josh, you probably have a concussion.” She put her arm around Josh and tried to help him walk just in case he was too dizzy and fell. She knew damn well how it felt to have a concussion. Back in her sophomore year, a stupid base got jealous of her being made the flyer and the bitch “accidentally” failed to catch her. Thank fuck the coach kicked her out of the team when the others pointed out that she deliberately let her fall. The day she found out the bitch got expelled as well was a great day.

“Yeah, like my head isn’t fucked up enough already.” He chuckled weakly. _Now I have mental AND physical head injuries. I should make some badges._

“Don’t be like that, asshole.” Jess elbowed him gently on his ribs.

Before Josh could reply, a sound of crying reached their ears. “Did you hear that?” _I'm not hearing things, am I?_

“It sounds like crying.” She frowned. _That crying sounds familiar…_

Jess’ eyes widened upon recognition. “Shit, it’s Em. If she’s crying, things are so fucking bad wherever she is now. Fuck!” _Oh god, Emily never cried in public. She didn't even cry at her granny's funeral two years ago and I know how much she meant to Em. Fuck, fuck, this is not good—_

“Goddamnit, what the fuck is going on?!” _Emily the Ice Queen is crying? This is really, really bad—_

“Josh, we need to go, c’mon!” No matter their differences and how much they both resented each other right now, deep inside she still cared a lot about Emily. It was hard to push away ten years of friendship like it was nothing.

Josh nodded and they went out of the room. They pushed the heavy door across the room together and nearly fell to the floor from the force when they saw Emily crying and Matt slumped over the desk. They approached them as fast as they could, even if Josh was feeling woozy and nearly tripped.

“NO! MATT!” Emily was crying hysterically while thrashing on her seat. “GODDAMNIT MATTHEW, WAKE UP!”

A low, cold chuckle reached their ears and a masked figure approached them. Josh quickly stood in front of Emily and Matt while Jess checked on Matt.

“Matt, Matt, Matt….” He shook his head in amusement. Josh noted the bulky overall, clown mask, and heavy boots. He looked unarmed, but Josh didn’t know if he could take him on in this state. He could barely manage to stand up straight, but he forced himself to in order to protect them. _Maybe I could punch that fresh wound on his shoulder?_ _Because like hell I’m going to lose more people—_

“Matt, you’ve heard of blanks before, have you?” The maniac said, with a hint of humor in his robotic voice.

_What? Blanks? What the fuck happened?!_

“STAY THE FUCK AWAY, YOU PSYCHO!” Emily screamed. Jess cut off her ties with her machete and was nearly knocked to the ground when Emily shot up from her chair and checked on Matt. “Matt, wake up! Don’t you fucking dare die on me, Matt! Why would you do that?! You stupid idiot!" She clawed at his ties, trying to free him as fast as she could.

The masked figure came even closer and Josh gulped. He clenched his fists when the psycho reached up and pulled off his mask.

_No, this is not real—_

 

* * *

 

 

**CHRIS**

**MINES**

**03:00**

 

Chris opened his eyes and felt the blood rushing to his head. “Holy shit!” He was dangling upside down with his leg tied up in a cable.

“Oh shit, Ashley!” _Oh my god I hope she’s alive oh Jesus fuck where am I?!_

Chris looked around and saw what looked like a stable ramp. He swung himself back and forth, trying to reach the ramp before he puked from all the nausea building up in him. _Jesus Christ, as if I have something else to puke anymore!_

He managed to grab the ramp right before the cable snapped. _Holy shit, that was lucky!_

Chris grunted and pulled himself up. “Ow! Goddamnit, I’m not equipped for this!” He grumbled. He heard a creak and looked up to see the tower collapsed. He shrieked and quickly ran to safety, but not before shrapnel grazed his knee. _Fuck!_

He winced and looked down to his leg. His jeans were torn and blood was dripping from the wound. _Ow, shit, that hurts so much!_

He tried to ignore the pain and looked at the dark entrance of the mine. “Shit, I have to go there, don't I?” He groaned. It was so dark and he could barely see anything. _Great, I'm down in wherever this dumb place is, alone, with a maniac on the loose. Fuck, I hope Ashley is okay…_

With a heavy sigh, he ripped a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around a piece of wood to make a torch. At least he still had his glasses. He didn’t know what he would do if he lost them. Lost in a fucking cave AND blind? No way in hell.

He started to walk inside what he guessed was a mine from all the equipment scattered all over the place _. I played Donkey Kong, I know my mines. I wish I had a cart to get out of this fucking place. Man, I miss my Super Nintendo… ugh, so not the time to think about that, Chris._

 He held his torch high above his head. He saw a sign that pointed to the right, so with a bit of hope he followed it. He nearly jumped at the screech that echoed in the mines, but he tried to ignore it. _Shit, what the fuck is that?!_

He came across a big door and tried to push it, but it wouldn’t budge. He shook his head and walked towards the big area, hoping for another path.

He saw a cart facing the door and smiled. _Hell yeah, now we're talking!_

He quickly pulled the brake, hoping the rail wasn’t rusty enough for the cart. It wasn’t, and soon the cart destroyed the door easily. Chris whooped in delight. _That was a miracle there, an old-ass mine without rusty rail. Maybe I could get out, after all._

He continued to walk and lit the brazier near the wooden structure. Soon, he could see more than just his own feet.

“Man, this area is huge…” _Wonder what kind of mine is this?_

He finally found a ladder and climbed it, wincing the entire time from the graze on his knee. When he nearly reached the top, the old ladder gave up and he fell through the wooden steps.

“Fuck!” _What the fuck did I do to make all this shit happens to me?! Oh my god where the fuck am I?!_

He lost his torch and now he was truly, utterly lost in the dark. He reached to his pocket and used his phone as a flashlight, mindful of its nearly dead battery _. Fuck, please don’t die until I get out of here…_

He shone the flashlight and saw a lot of skeletons lying around and nearly dropped his phone. “What the fuck?!”

He gulped and steeled himself to walk past the skeletons. _Jesus Christ that's so fucked up._

He continued to walk when he heard someone yelling and that damned screech again. He quickly ran to the small cliff and pressed himself there, trying to hide from whatever animal that was making the sound.

After a minute, the screech stopped and he let out a relieved sigh. Turning around, he climbed the cliff slowly, mindful of his injured knee. He prayed the old ladder won’t give up under his weight because he didn’t want to fall again, especially from this height.

He managed to reach the top safely and wiped off the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. _Thank god for small miracles._

He continued walking when his phone died. “Seriously?! Goddamnit! Fucking iPhone and weak batteries! What should I do now?!” He groaned.

He pocketed the dead phone and walked cautiously now that he could barely see his own feet. A burst of flames licked the air near him and he nearly jumped. “Jesus shit!” _Who the fuck made that flame?!_

He took a moment to regain his composure and continued to walk. He nearly tripped a few times thanks for the darkness and cursed his luck, his life, and the mountain.

He finally came across a clearing with moonlight shining from above the opening. He looked above and saw a way out and nearly cried.

So close, yet so far.

The cliff was too slippery to climb, so he had to look for another way out. _I guess it was just too good to be true._

He looked around in the clearing and nearly stepped on something. He crouched and saw a very familiar pair of glasses.

“Wh—Hannah?” _N-no way…_

Upon closer inspection, he saw a ‘HW’ inscription on the hinges. Chris gulped and pocketed it. _Did Hannah fall here? But where’s Beth? Or... or their bodies…?_

He shivered and kept walking. He saw some marks on the rock and squinted to see it clearly.

**02.02.14**

“That’s exactly a year ago…” He whispered. _What does that mean…?_

He continued to walk and he saw a wooden plank on the ground. Curious on why would a random plank be here, he picked it up and nearly dropped it in fright when he read ‘ **BETH 2.2.14** ’

_Oh my god was that a fucking grave marker?! Does that mean they fell here but Hannah was alive the whole time?! What the fuck?!_

Chris nearly hyperventilated. _Oh god, Hannah, how much time did you spend here in your own? Fucking useless police, they probably didn't even look for them here!_

The implication was too big to deny. They fell here, but somehow Hannah was alive and buried Beth.

So where was the body? And where was Hannah?

He gulped and was determined to find more proof that they were here.

He tripped a few times because it was hard to see even with the moonlight, but he steeled himself and looked around in every corner for more clues.

He saw a glint of silver reflected on top of some barrels and approached it.

It was Hannah’s locket.

Chris clutched the locket and tried to hold back his tears. _Oh Jesus, Hannah was alive when we thought they were missing… Oh god, if only we looked for them harder… God, I’m so sorry, Hannah…_

His throat was dry from no water for hours, the acid from the puking, and an immense guilt that crushed his heart. Chris pocketed the locket and continued his search. He walked back towards the slightly unhinged door and removed it to the side with a grunt. _What’s that on the rock? And the smell, holy shit!_

He picked it up and dropped it with a scream.

It was Beth’s head.

He choked out a sob and ran, not wanting to look at Beth’s remain. He barely noticed the sign that said ‘ **SURFACE ELEVATOR** ’ in his panic. He quickly unlocked the door and found himself back in the first area where he fell from the ladder. He ran to the elevator and quickly turned it on. “C’mon, let’s go, don’t die!”

He reached the top and was looking around when he saw a figure walking towards him.

He quickly hid behind the wooden wall, frozen in fear. _Oh my god it’s the psycho that killed Sam oh Jesus fuck no I don’t want to die I haven’t told Ashley yet oh god Josh deserves to know what happened—_

The figure came closer and Chris figured it was time to run.

He jumped across a wooden bridge in his adrenaline haze and ran as fast as he could. He came across a dead end and he decided to hide between the wooden gaps on the wall. He nearly screamed when the man stood in front of him with a flamethrower in his hands.

_I’m going to die._

 

* * *

 

 

**EMILY**

**OLD HOTEL**

**03:27**

 

“YOU’RE NOT REAL!” Josh shouted and clutched his head. The psycho—no, Sam—laughed menacingly at Josh’s breakdown and Jess’ slack-jawed expression.

“Matt! Oh Jesus shit thank fuck you’re awake!” Emily barely paid attention to the reveal; she was too busy checking on Matt to care.

Matt blinked slowly, his eyes unfocused and blood was pouring heavily from his mouth. He spat a mouthful of blood and two of his teeth to the side. He touched the underside of his jaw which burned thanks to the hot pressurized gas from the gun, and his right ear was ringing like hell. Tears welled up in his eyes and he looked at Emily in despair. Emily held his hand while trying to hold back her own tears.

“Calm down, Em. It’s just a blank.” Sam said mockingly. She laughed like seeing her friend with a bloody face and burned jaw was the funniest thing in the world.

“Just a blank?” Emily’s head whipped out to face Sam. “I know you’re blonde, but that’s not a fucking reason to be this idiotic! Blanks can still kill people, you dumb fucking cunt!” She screamed and nearly lunged at Sam if it wasn’t for Jess restraining her.

Sam blinked at Emily’s reaction. “Em, it’s a blank. Look at him; he doesn’t have any new holes in his face.” She gestured at the still dazed Matt and smiled widely. “Although this wasn’t what I expected, but I have to say I like your teary eyed confession. Very dramatic. You should consider acting if the fashion editor thing doesn’t work out.”

“S-Sammy, y-you’re not real, you won’t hurt our friends and I, so why are you still standing there?” Josh babbled. Sam laughed loudly. Her eyes were unfocused, like she wasn’t totally there in that moment.

“Oh, but I am real, Josh. I am as real as your sister’s disappearances a year ago. I am as real as Emily’s and Jess’ cruel prank.” She stopped laughing. “How does that feel, huh Emily? If that was Mike that sat there instead of sweet, boring Matt, do you really think he won’t shoot you to save himself?”

“Let me go, Jess! LET ME GO!” _How dare this bitch—_

“Em, stop—“ _No, no, this is not happening—_

Matt groaned and Emily stopped struggling in Jess’ arms. She ran to Matt and hugged him, mindful of his burned jaw.

“Matt, god, we have to get you to the hospital soon! Jesus Christ, your jaw is burned and you just spat out your teeth!” She sobbed. “Is this what you wanted, Sam?! Why would you hurt Matt?! He wasn’t even in the lodge that night, you bitch!” _Please, please don’t let him have any internal injuries oh god—_

“I know. It wasn’t my original plan, to be honest. I didn’t anticipate that you and Mike would break up. It should have been you and him on that chair, and when I found out you were with Matt now, well…” Sam shrugged. “I figured even if he didn’t shoot you, it’ll still be hilarious.”

“Hilarious?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” _I’m gonna kill this cunt—_

“Nothing. I just did what you two bitches did to Hannah.” She chuckled. “How does that feel, huh? Wasn’t it funny? Did you enjoy feeling terrorized, humiliated? Panicked? Hopeless? All those emotions that Hannah and Beth got to feel at once, a year ago?” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, and if looks could kill, everyone in that room would be dead already. “Only guess what?! They didn’t get to laugh it off! No, no, no! Nope, they’re gone!” She ranted.

Amidst Josh’s babbling and Emily’s sobbing, Jess growled. “And you killed Michael because of that?”

Sam stopped laughing and blinked at the other blonde. “I didn’t kill anyone, Jess. Even if they deserved it.”

“Bullshit! You grabbed him from the cabin and-and…” Jess clenched her fists.

“Jess, I didn’t go to the cabin. I thought that when you saw the path to the cabin was blocked, you were gonna turn around and come back to the lodge.” Sam said slowly, like she was talking to a toddler.

“What? But then… What?”

Logically, Jess knew that Sam was telling the truth. She was tiny and even if she was something of a climbing master, she didn’t have enough strength to grab someone like Mike who at least a foot taller and fifty pounds heavier than her with just one hand and drag him down with that much strength and velocity.

But she was too frazzled to think logically right now, not after what happened tonight, and the reveal that the sick fucker was Sam all along.

It was too much.

Jess howled and struck Sam’s shoulder wound with the handle of her machete with all her strength. Sam screamed and fell to the floor while clutching her shoulder. Jess panted in rage and sneered at the curled up blonde below her. _You’ll pay. You’ll pay for everything—_

Emily smiled grimly. “You think that hurts? That’s nothing compared to Matt’s wounds.” She kicked Sam’s side. “You’re gonna pay for everything you’ve done, bitch. Get up!”

While Emily was kicking Sam around, Jess turned to still babbling Josh and tried to snap him out of his episode. “Josh, buddy? Focus on me, please?” _Where’s Chris when you need him, Jesus Christ. I don’t really remember what he did whenever Josh was in his episode—_

“Jess? Is it really you?” Josh was trying hard to focus on the figure and voice that was talking to him. It looked like and sounded like Jess but he didn’t trust anything in this moment.

“Yeah, it’s me. Look at me. I’m here, I’m real, and this is happening.” She touched his shoulder for good measure. “See? It’s me, I’m touching you, and I’m real.”

Josh was slowly coming to his senses. “Jess? What happened?” He tried to focus on remembering what was happening, but it always took a while whenever he had his episodes.

“I’ll explain everything to you in a bit, alright? Right now, we need you. We need to get out of here and back to the lodge because there’s a real killer out there and we need to regroup in a safe place. Can you please help Sam up? I’m gonna help Emily with Matt.” _Oh thank fucking god that worked._

Josh was still confused, but upon seeing the state of his friends he agreed without question. His memory was a bit foggy but he pushed them aside for now and helped Sam up after stopping Emily from kicking her over and over.

Together, they made their way back to the lodge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit, I just realized that everyone but Jess, Sam, and Mike got concussion, poor kids lol.
> 
> Flyer is the person that's lifted into the air during a cheerleading stunt, while base is the person responsible for keeping the flyer in the air, as well as making sure the flyer is safe at all times. Yay Wikipedia!
> 
> I know Chris' part was terrible. I hate the walking around part, it was boring as hell. But it was necessary.
> 
> Sam is the psycho. Obviously. 
> 
> Yes, blanks could kill people. [Jon-Erik Hexum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon-Erik_Hexum) died on the set of a TV series back in the 80s because he played around with a blank gun and shot it against his temple. The explosion drove a quarter-sized piece of his skull far into his brain. The paper wadding of the straight-walled blank cartridge went straight into his temple and forced a bone chip to lodge in his brain. 
> 
> [Other prop incidents if you want to read more. ](http://propguys.com/gundanger/)
> 
> Now imagine if Matt or in game Chris shot it against their temple instead of their jaw.
> 
> In my opinion, it's understandable if Sam didn't know that blanks are dangerous from close range, but Josh should've know better as the son of a movie director. He was really good with the other props he prepared but he gave a blank gun to his best friend? What the hell. 
> 
> Few more chapters to go!


	9. Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something wicked this way comes...

**THREE HOURS UNTIL DAWN**

**CHRIS**

**MINES**

**04:01**

 

The man came closer and Chris nearly peed in his pants in fear. _Jesus Christ, this guy has a flamethrower and a shotgun! How the hell am I gonna get away from here?!_

He grabbed Chris’ arm. “Stay the fuck away from me!” Chris shouted. _Oh god, he’s gonna kill me—_

“Shh! Quiet!”

“No! Stay away!” He struggled, trying to free himself from the stranger’s hold. _Oh shit oh shit oh shit—_

The figure turned away from him and let go of his arm. He threw a bag to Chris. “Use these, and get the hell out of here, now!” He said gruffly.

Chris scrambled backwards and lost his footing before he fell to the lower part of the mine. “Oof! What the hell?!” _What the fuck just happened?_

He groaned and stood up while dusting himself. He opened the bag and grinned. There was a flare light in it.

“Hell yeah!” _Oh thank god! … But why did he help me?_

Chris fired it on and soon he could see again. He turned back and dropped down towards the lower part of the mine. He grimaced when he heard that damned screech again, but he steeled himself. _I can do this, I can do this, I can do this…_

He passed a lot of upturned carts and was worried they would fall and hit him, but thankfully they stayed in their place. Chris sighed and kept walking.

He saw a cave-in and nearly despaired, but then he noticed a gap on it. “Okay...” He rubbed his face. “Okay, this is gonna be the way.”

Chris slowly squeezed through the gap and was relieved he didn’t get stuck when a fucking clawed hand nearly hit his face.

“Shit! Shit!” _Holy shit, what the hell?!_

He ran and nearly smacked his forehead against yet another clawed hand, but he managed to duck at the last second. “What the fuck is that?!”

He came across an old bridge and prayed it would hold his weight. He jumped the gap in the middle of it and almost dropped his flare. He didn’t dare look back to see what kind of creature was chasing him.

He ran to the right side of the mine and could hear whatever made those inhuman sounds scream right behind him. “Shit, c’mon!” Soon, he entered an elevator and turned it on. “Breathe in… breathe out...” He muttered, trying to stave off a panic attack. He was familiar with those because of Josh, so he repeated what he would say to him. “It’s okay, you’ll be okay, breathe in, breathe out…”

The elevator stopped and clanged loudly in the silence of the mine. “Shit!” He muttered, scared that the sound would alert the creature of his location. He quickly got out of the elevator and ran, pulling a chain that made rocks fall out of the cart, and he hoped it would buy him some time. He also pushed down some barrels and nearly slipped from the oil inside of them. He threw his flare to the oil and dropped down to another section of the mine while the fire blazed behind him.

A conveyor belt suddenly came alive. Chris looked around for another way out, but he saw no other choices but to get on the belt.

The belt soon came to the end with a rock grinder machine on the other side. Chris jumped with all of his strength, and miraculously, he managed to safely land across the conveyor belt, away from the grinder. _Shit, that was close!_

He went out through the wooden door and stopped to catch his breath. “Holy shit, I thought I was gonna die _—_ ARGH!” _Jesus Christ fucking hell what the fuck that thing bit me oh god I’m going to die!_

He stumbled forward and fell to the snowy ground. He quickly stood up and ran while holding his bleeding shoulder.

The creature was right behind him.

He ran and ran and ran, barely realized the creature had stopped screeching and chasing him. He ran until his feet hurt and he felt a burn on his side.

He nearly cried when he saw the lodge looming in front of him. _Thank fucking god oh my god!_

“LET ME IN! LET ME IN!” He shouted while banging the door frantically. _Oh god please someone open the door I don’t want to die—_

The door swung open and he fell to the floor from the force. “Shut the door! Oh my god, shut the door!”

Josh and Emily quickly pulled him away from the door while Jess locked it shut. “Chris, a-are you alright?!”

“I-I didn’t think that I’d make it—“ He babbled while Emily sat him down on the couch that didn’t get occupied by Matt’s prone form. _Oh my god, I’m alive, I’m alive—_

“You were screaming bloody murder—“

“Jesus, what the fuck happened, Chris?!”

“Bro, are you okay?!”

“There was something—“

“Where’s Ashley—“

“Something out there, a fucking monster—“

Josh crouched down in front of Chris and held his shaking hands. “Chris, bro, take a deep breath and tell us what the hell happened.” _Jesus fuck, he’s bleeding all over! Shit!_

Chris squeezed Josh’s hands in gratitude and took a deep breath. “There’s something out there and it-it was chasing me—“ _Oh god, what the fuck was that monster?!_

“Chris, relax, it was Sam—“ Jess interjected quietly.

“No, no, no, listen to me—“

“We tied her up there—“The blonde gestured to a dazed Sam near the fireplace.”—she can’t hurt you.”

“No, Jess! It wasn’t human!” Chris said in hysteria. _Why aren’t any of them listening to me for fuck’s sake?! What the fuck happened to Matt?! And why is Sam alive?! Was it just a dream when I saw her in the shed—_

“Chris, where’s Ash? Is-is she okay?” Emily cut in. She may not see eye to eye with the girl sometimes –okay, most of the time – but that didn’t mean she didn’t worry about her, especially now.

“Ash was… oh god, she tried to save me, but I fell from the fire tower into the mine shaft and I don’t know where the fuck is she now or even if she’s still alive!” He said in one breath, tears slowly trickled down his face. Josh squeezed his hands harder in sympathy, and Chris had never been so glad that his best friend was here.

“Wait, what mine shaft?” Emily asked in confusion.

“I-I was walking down there in the mines, and it was dark, and I found this pile and-and—“Chris cried harder. “Oh my god, Josh, I-I saw Beth’s head!” _I can never forget it, oh Jesus—_

“What?” Josh’s eyes widened in shock. _No, I must have misheard him—_

Sam perked up from her seat near the fireplace. “Beth…?” She whispered.

“I-I think they fell down there—“He sniffled. “B-but the worst part is that I don’t think Hannah died right away from the fall, I-I saw Beth’s grave marker and-and there were a lot of scratches on the rock, like she marked the days or something—“Chris averted his eyes from Josh’s terrified ones. ”Jesus, she-she starved to death and we had no idea…” _I’m so sorry Hannah forgive me for not trying enough oh god—_

“No, bro, that’s not true, they couldn’t –“Josh started to tremble. “Please tell me you’re lying—” He let go of Chris’ hands and stood up while clutching his head. “YOU’RE LYING! YOU’RE A LIAR! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!”

He started hitting his head. “This is not real, none of this is real!” Palpable panic could be seen in his eyes. “Beth, Hannah, they’re alive, they have to be. Beth where are you? I’m sorry, I’m so sorry—”

Chris wiped his tears with his sleeve. He approached his best friend and took Josh’s hands off his head. “Hey Josh, look at me?”

But Josh wouldn’t meet his eyes; he was looking around wildly and babbling incoherently while trying to get his hands free from Chris’ grip. “Josh, look at me and listen to me. I’m here, I’m real, and I won’t hurt you. You’ll be okay. Please buddy, it’s okay, it’ll be ok-“

THWACK!

“Get over your shit you fucking idiot, there’s no time for this right now!” Emily scowled while rubbing her stinging palm. _This is not a good time for breaking down, Washington!_

Chris gaped at her. “Emily, what the fuck is wrong with you?! He’s sick! Jesus Christ!” _Holy shit, what the fuck?! That was not cool!_

“We don’t have time for Josh’s breakdown right now! Just explain what happened for fuck’s sake!” _We need to prepare ourselves soon and Josh losing his shit is the last thing we need right now—_

Josh was blinking rapidly with a hand on his red cheek, but at least Emily’s slap snapped him out of his episode. _No, no, no, Beth and Hannah couldn’t possibly—_

”Look, there was a radio on the tower and Ash and I got through to someone, but that was right when the tower collapsed—“

He couldn’t finish his sentences. The thought of Ashley alone in the dark down there just like Hannah was too much, and seeing Josh lost his shit was not helping at all.

Before anyone could say anything, there was a sound of someone banging the door.

“Who the fuck can that be?!” Emily hissed.

“Maybe we should check it out, it could be Ashley…” Jess whispered.

“Fine, let’s go.” Emily scowled, not liking the fact that she had to be the one that checked it out since Josh was still mumbling to himself, Chris was bleeding all over, Matt was barely conscious, and that bitch Sam was tied up. She nearly left Sam in the shed, but Jess quickly pointed out that none of them could afford to leave Josh and Matt to watch over her in case she tried to escape. She grudgingly agreed with the blonde.

The two of them stood behind the door. Jess raised her machete while Emily had her hand on the handle.

“You better be ready when I open the door!” Emily whispered heatedly.

“Whatever, hurry the fuck up and open it already!” Jess whispered back, her hand trembled slightly, both from the machete’s weight and from her own fear.

Emily slowly turned the handle when she was shoved to the ground from the force. “Shit!” _What the fuck?!_

It was the old man from the Sanatorium.

“Hey! Hold on there!” Jess raised her machete, trying to swallow her fear of finally being confronted with Mike's killer. _Oh god he’s here what the hell—_

The figure must have caught her bravado and quickly disarmed her, sending the machete to the ground. “Ow! What the—“ _Oh shit!_

He stared at them and they both quickly stepped backwards. “Alright, alright, just take it easy grandpa.” Emily said. _Fucking old bastard, he shoved me to the ground and not even an apology—_

The man snorted at Emily calling him grandpa. “Ok. Everybody just calm down. Just move over there.” He walked towards the living room with Emily, but Jess stayed behind, hand clenched around her machete that she quickly took the moment the old man turned his back on her. “Go on! Let me say what I came to say.”

“Like hell I will! You’re the asshole that I was chasing at the sanatorium! You fucking killed Mike, you piece of shit!” She tried to lunge at him, but she was stopped by Chris.

“Calm down Jess, this guy is the only reason I’m alive right now! I have no idea what happened with Mike, but I’m pretty sure he had nothing to do with it!” _Wait, what?! Mike’s dead?!_

Jess stopped struggling in Chris' arms, but she didn’t look totally convinced. Eventually, she calmed down and opted to glare at the old man instead.

He stood in front of the fireplace and put his cloth sack down. Emily shook Matt awake and sat down beside him while holding his hand. Matt looked at the old man with confusion, but since the others weren’t hostile, he thought the old man was probably not here to hurt them. He intertwined his fingers with Emily’s instead.

“I’m here to tell you what you’re up against being back on this mountain.” He glared at them. ”You should have never returned. I don’t know why you did, after what happened last year.”

“You mean with Hannah and Beth?” Jess asked.

“Yeah, how could you know without being involved?” Emily narrowed her eyes. ”Or responsible?”

He sneered. “You hold onto your horses. I don’t take kindly to you kids coming up here to my mountain—“

Chris cut him off. “Your mountain? I’m sure the Washingtons would be very surprised to hear that.”

He chuckled. “Heh. Well, this mountain doesn’t belong to me, it’s true. But it doesn’t belong to the Washingtons either.” Josh opened his mouth to protest, but the old man gestured at him to shut up. ”This mountain belongs to the Wendigo.”

“Who?” Jess furrowed her eyebrows. _What the fuck is this guy talking about? And who the fuck names someone Wendigo?_

“The hell’s a Wendigo?” Chris scratched his head in confusion. _Why does it sound familiar?_

“Now, I’m only going to tell you this once. It doesn’t matter to me if you believe it or not. I got reasons I want to… get it off my chest…” He ignored their questions and started to pace back and forth.

“So you’re guilty!” Emily accused. _This fucking asshole killed Hannah and Beth and I’ve been feeling guilty the whole time!_

“Shut up, Em!” Jess snapped. ”Let him talk!”

“There is a curse that dwells in these mountains. Should any man or woman resort to cannibalism in these woods, the spirit of the Wendigo shall be unleashed.” He stopped pacing and stared at them. ”You’re all going to need to find somewhere safe.”

“The basement might be okay…” Josh said hesitantly.

“Okay. Get down there now, all of you. And wait.”

“What?! Why?! For how long?!” Emily bristled. _Is this guy for real?! First there was a fucking psycho that turned out to be Sam, Mike died from a fucking cave-in, then Matt took a bullet for me and ruined his fucking jaw, and now this asshole with Alzheimer came and ranting about cannibalism and monsters?! Are you fucking kidding me?!_

“Until dawn.” Chris muttered. _Oh fuck, the thing that fucking bit me was probably one of those things, oh god I’m fucked—_

“Fine, now go down there. I’m going to—“

“No, wait! You can’t leave us here! What if the Wendigo is here and you left us?! None of us can’t fight it!” Emily protested. Crazy or not, he knew about those things better than anyone. She wouldn’t take any chances and let him left them defenseless.

The stranger looked at them for a long time. Finally, he sighed and nodded. “Fine. I’ll stay here with you brats until dawn. God knows you all will need my help.”

Josh approached Sam and undid her ties. The blonde was still out of it from the pain of being struck by Jess right on her wound and shock of hearing about Hannah and Beth. She stared into space with a blank expression on her face, but she let Josh pulled her arm to help her walk.

The seven of them went down to the basement, hope and fear mixed into one.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short, but that's because I didn't make Jess and Emily left Sam in the shed. I wanted to make them a bit smarter than in game Chris and Mike in that situation. Besides, Matt and Josh were wounded, it wouldn't make any sense to split the most able people to watch over Sam in the shed and watch over Matt and Josh in the lodge. So, because of that, no stupidly killing off the stranger after he served his purpose to tell the gang about Wendigoes.
> 
> Also, I don't recommend slapping people in the middle of hallucinations.


	10. Despair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heartache and tears and revelation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... I'm really busy. I'm gonna start a new job next week and my girlfriend come to visit, so... oops. 
> 
> Here's the new chapter, enjoy.

**TWO HOURS UNTIL DAWN**

**MATT**

**OLD HOTEL**

**05:03**

 

Matt dozed off while Emily cleaned the blood and saliva on his face. This was the first time she touched him so tenderly.

They never really cuddled after sex and it was usually Emily that initiated touching, which was rare in itself. Whenever he tried to touch her first, she either shrugged it off or interpreted it as an invitation to heat things up. Not that he complained, but sometimes he just wanted to cuddle with her while watching a movie, or just talk like every other couple that he knew.

Every time Matt tried to engage her in a deep conversation, she always changed the subject and just talked about superficial things instead. He knew she had a thick outer shell, but he figured if he gave it enough time she will trust him enough to open up a bit. He just hoped he would still have a chance to do that because right now there was a fucking monster that was chasing them and were going to eat them, if what the weird guy said was true. It killed Mike already.

Jesus. Mike.

He never really liked the guy because he was with Emily and because he was so different from him. While he was quiet and easy-going, Mike was chatty and ambitious. Mike was smart and manipulative while Matt wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer and he wouldn’t know how to manipulate people.

He didn’t think he ever had any conversations with him one-by-one. They were running buddies along with Hannah and Sam, sure, but the girls were always there for buffer and it was weird and awkward when they couldn’t make it and it was just the two of them. So, when he didn’t come any more to their running sessions, Matt couldn’t help but feel relieved.

But that didn’t mean he wanted the dude to die.

“Ngh!” He winced when Emily accidentally touched his jaw too hard. _Ow ow ow! Shit fuck that hurt so bad!_

“Oh shit, sorry!” Emily stopped cleaning him. “Matt, when we get out of here I’m gonna bring you straight to the hospital, okay?” _Yes, that’s right, when. Not if. Because we’re gonna get out of here no matter what._

He nodded, feeling dizzy and nauseous. What the fuck did Sam do to him? She was so tiny and he remembered he could lift her with one arm! How could someone that little do so much damage? And most importantly, _why_?

He had always liked her. They always had so much fun, even when it was just the two of them running around when Hannah and Mike couldn’t come. They liked to compete against each other. Sam always blamed it on him being a giant who had the advantages of longer stride when he won and Matt always said she was little but sneaky the times she had beat him.

He just didn’t understand what he did to her that made her hurt him.

He grunted and gestured with his head to Emily, looking puzzled. It took her a few moments to understand what he meant, but she got it soon enough. “What happened to your head?” He nodded. “Well, that bitch—“She jerked her chin in Sam’s direction, who stared at them with a blank expression.”—hit you with a fucking baseball bat to the head, so that’s why you have a concussion.”

He grimaced and rubbed his head. He could feel a lump and pointed it to Emily. She nodded. “I know, hon, I know. She hit me too. And Josh. And Chris.” She growled. ”I’m gonna sue her fucking ass when we get back.” She muttered under her breath and ran her fingers through Matt’s hair, carefully avoiding his lump.

Matt closed his eyes and just enjoyed Emily’s fingers on his hair when he heard Emily speak up again. “Matt, don’t fall asleep. I’m gonna check your mouth, okay?” She grabbed her phone and turned on the flashlight.

He flinched, but slowly opened it. _Jesus that hurts so fucking much_.

Emily winced upon looking at the state of Matt’s mouth. “Jesus, Matt. Your gum is swollen, your tongue is bleeding, and some of your teeth are cracked, not to mention the teeth that you spat out earlier.”She bit her lips, trying to hold back her tears. “What else do you feel?”

He gestured to his right ear and shook his head. “You can’t hear from there?” He nodded. “Fuck. I hope it’s not permanent.” This time, Emily couldn’t hold back her tears and she sniffed a little before wiping her tears with the back of her hand. _God, what if he lost his hearing after this? Will he be able to talk or even eat normally anymore with that fucked up jaw? Jesus…_

He nodded again and let his eyes wander around the room. The stranger just finished bandaging Chris’ wounds and moved on to treat Sam, but he couldn’t do anything about Emily’s black eye or his ruined jaw without proper medicines and tools. At least he passed around a few bottles of water, which they all took gratefully, especially Chris because now he could rinse out the taste of vomit in his mouth.

Emily was so tired, and right now the only thing she wanted was to be back in her bed and sleep for days.

There was so much happened in just one night. First, there was Sam’s fucked up “prank” which scarred them all mentally, and as if that’s not enough, she also hurt them physically.

With the exception of Jess, they all had concussion with the worst being Josh’s. She was surprised he could still function normally (as normal as Josh can be anyway) after getting knocked out for hours. She got off lucky with mild concussion and a shiner on her face (which still hurts a lot, the bitch). Jess ran into the snow without proper clothes and now she had superficial frostbite, judging from the blue tinge on her fingers. Matt ruined his jaw, burned his throat, and possibly lost the hearing in his right ear permanently. Chris took the cake, however, with the multiple head injuries on top of his concussion, a banged up knee, and a fucking Wendigo bite on his shoulder.

She was ready to kick him out in fear of him turning into those freaky monsters, but the stranger calmed her worries and told them that the only way someone turned into a Wendigo was from cannibalism and not from its bites. He even showed them a scar which appeared to be years old on his arm that looked like teeth sunk into flesh to reassure them.

After that, she felt a bit calmer and she had time to process what was happening. She was done checking on Matt and she let him doze off for a bit, waking him up every three minutes to check on him. God knows he deserved a little rest and to escape reality more than anyone.

Emily still couldn’t believe what he had done for her. She had been such a bitch to him the entire time they’ve been dating and before that she didn’t even pay attention to him. For her, he was just… there. A part of the background. It was really easy to overlook him when the group had a lot of flashy and bold people like Jess, Mike, Beth, Josh, and herself.

He was just a rebound. He was dense and always eager to please. Hell, sometimes she thought of him as a sex toy, only there to blow off some steam. It helped that he was into the same things that she liked and so the sex was better than with Mike. _It’s always the quiet one_ ; she thought when they’ve slept together for the first time.

But he was also ready to give his life for her, as evidenced in the huge and painful looking burn on his jaw. _Matt you fucking idiot, why would you do that? And for me? I’m not worth it._

That was the problem, wasn’t it? She wasn’t worth it, not matter how much she pretended to be better than everyone else. It was all just a big façade, and once you took all that out, you were left with a scared little girl. She was scared of her parents’ expectations and their perpetual disappointments. She was scared of her feelings regarding Mike and Jess and she didn’t want to be lonely so she accepted Matt.

Why couldn’t everyone just leave her be? Why did they have to look at her with such admiration or jealousy? Why did everyone expect so much from her, _especially_ her parents?

Of course her parents would be the root of all her issues. They were always looking down at her and punishing her for her failures but never rewarding her for her successes. They ignored her in favor of her older siblings, who were more successful and powerful. Jesus, she should’ve bonded with Josh better, what with the ‘sidelined by parents in favor of other siblings’ thing they got.

God, she was so fucking cliché.

And for Matt to give up his life – well, intend to – for _her_?

What an idiot.

The sound of footsteps coming closer ended her depressing inner monologue. She looked up to see Jess’ worried face.

“How is he doing?” The blonde asked quietly.

“Why do you care, bitch?” Emily glared at her.

“He’s my friend too, you fucking asshole! Why you have to be such a bitch?! I’m just asking!”

“Shut the hell up! I bet you’re here to steal him from me since you lost the other one, huh?” she said without thinking. Jess was about to slap her when she noticed Matt pulling at Emily’s sleeve with a pleading look in his eyes. Emily let out a deep sigh.

“His jaw is fucked up and he has a concussion. His right ear is the one that worries me the most because he can’t hear anything. I hope he doesn’t permanently lose his hearing there because of that fucking bitch.” Emily scowled. Jess touched her arm gently, testing the boundaries. Emily tensed at the touch, startled.

“What?” She asked Jess without lifting her eyes from the blonde’s bandaged hand on her arm. The stranger couldn’t find a way to continuously re-warm her fingers with his limited tools, so he separated her fingers with cotton balls and bandaged it loosely for now.

“I just wanted to… I mean, I just, um, I’m sorry, I guess. Not only about Matt, but all of it, you know?” _Damn, that was fucking hard to say_.

She started tearing up, remembering the root of their problems: Mike.

“We promised each other, remember? When we were, like, twelve?” She let out a tearful laugh at the memory of their younger selves made a pinky promise the night before middle school started. “That we wouldn’t let any boys come between us like all those dumb high school girls in the movies we used to watch. But we fucked up and broke that promise. I guess we were one of those dumb high school girls after all, huh?” Jess wiped her tears. “You’re supposed to be my best friend, but school and boys and other things came between us and we drifted apart so easily…” She averted her eyes. “Look, with everything that happened tonight, I don’t want to die with regret. I just want you to know that I, um—” _Jesus, why is this so hard_? “—that I love you, you bitch, and I’m sorry about all the shit that happened between us.” _And for Mike_ , she wanted to say, but she didn’t dare speak his name or she wouldn’t be able to speak at all.

Emily, who always loathed feelings and emotions, was trying to keep hers under control. She didn’t expect Jess to apologize so soon or, well, ever. She wasn’t ready for this on top of all the shit that happened tonight.

“Look, I don’t think I could accept your apology just like that and be buddy-buddy with you like nothing’s wrong.” Upon looking at Jess’ hurt eyes, Emily softened her tone a bit. “But we could come to a truce because there’s a fucking monster out there who literally wants to eat us and we need to work together if we want to get out here alive.” She pursed her lips. “When we get out of here then we can, like, talk. Maybe.”

“Em…”

“And for whatever it’s worth, I’m, ugh, I’m sorry. For what I just said earlier… that was such a dick move. I shouldn’t say that.” Emily bit her lips. “And I’m sorry that something as stupid as a boy came between us.” She whispered.

Oh god, _Mike_.

Tears were filling her eyes. She hated crying in front of people, but with everything that happened until now she just couldn’t hold the tears back anymore. She looked up at Jess who already teared up at the mention of Mike. Jess hurriedly closed the distance between them and hugged Emily.

They cried together with Jess clinging to Emily. It felt so weird (and good) to be this close to the blonde again after what they’ve been through.

Jesus, she couldn’t believe Mike was really gone.

She couldn’t say she didn’t care for the guy, but she couldn’t say she loved him either. Theirs was a relationship of convenience. They were both popular, they were both hot and looked good together, and the sex was okay enough for her to tolerate it.

But she did really care for him. They had a lot of things in common. They were both ambitious, cunning, had a lot of common goals, and she felt like he really understood her even if he was an ass sometimes. The thought of not seeing his smug smile or hearing his stupid jokes ever again filled her with sadness and she couldn’t help but cry harder in Jess’ arms.

She hugged Jess harder and Emily thought about the irony that the same guy that tore them apart had brought them back together with his death. She hugged her tighter for a few more seconds and reluctantly pulled herself away from Jess.

Emily wiped away her tears and stared at Jess. “… truce?” She stretched her hand towards the blonde.

Jess looked down at the black-haired girl’s hand and internally rolled her eyes because Emily being so formal after smearing her tears and snot on Jess’ shirt was ridiculous, but she shook her hand and nodded.

“Chin up bitch, we’ll get out of here. Now let’s stop this crying fest and let’s get over our shit together like we always do.” Emily said with a smirk.

“Hell yeah we will!” Jess chuckled. “Thanks for the pep-talk, bitch. No thanks for the snot on my shirt though.”

Emily snorted. “You’re welcome. And you look ugly as fuck when you cry.”

Jess smiled slightly and shook her head.                                                                                        

Across the room, Chris was looking at them with a big smile on his face. _Finally_.

Sadly, seeing them like that only reminded him of Ashley. He had pleaded with the stranger to let him out to go search for her, but the stranger had told him that he would be of no use to her with that bite unattended, not to mention the limp in his leg and his concussion. His friends had agreed and he had to accept that the old man was right. The old man told him that if Ashley was as clever as he told her, she’d figure it out and hide until the sun came up.

Chris had faith in Ashley, and he was crossing his fingers for her to be okay and didn’t get hurt too much from the fall.

 _Jesus, all of this is wrong_. He touched the lump on his forehead. He still didn’t understand why Sam would do all of that to them. Hell, Ashley, Josh, Matt and him had nothing to do with the prank, but she targeted them too.

He was going to get his answers, one way or another.

He looked at Sam who sat next to Josh and furrowed his brows. “I need to know, Sam. Why would you do this? We’re your friends, and I get why you were mad about that prank, I was pissed off too. But this? This is not okay, this is wrong! We could die at any second and it’s all because of you! Look at Matt for fuck’s sake, and he wasn’t even there that night, and Mike… Jesus, please, I just need to know the reason why do you think we deserve this? It doesn’t make sense at all!” Everyone’s attention was on Sam. It looked like every word Chris said just passed right through her and her expression still unreadable.

Sam cleared her throat and started talking.

“Well, if you really want to know—not that you all deserve it— I’ll explain. Let’s start with that night, exactly one year ago. The infamous prank that ruined everything for everyone and all because of three stupid teenagers thought it was funny to mess with an innocent girl.” She looked right at Emily and Jess, an accusing look in her eyes.

“You think I’m the only one that’s guilty? And you think you’re a saint after what you pulled tonight? Are you that delusional, bitch?!” If it wasn’t for Jess holding her back, Sam would have Emily’s rings imprinted on her face mirroring Josh’s.

Sam completely ignored her outburst – which pissed Emily off even more – and continued ranting. “You’re all guilty of what happened. Emily and Jess obviously, for planning the whole thing. Mike especially for going along with it, even knowing how much he meant to Hannah. He should have known better. He had whatever happened coming to him, I guess—” This time, Jess didn’t get in Emily’s way, and she slapped Sam as hard as she could. Josh had to hold Emily back or she would have continued slapping Sam. Jess growled audibly and if her hands weren’t so cold she’d slapped Sam along with Emily.

With a hand on her cheek Sam continued talking, not even fazed by the slap. She looked at Chris next. “And you, of course it’s your fault too. You and Ashley were probably in the prank as well, and that’s why you got Josh and me drunk so we couldn’t do anything! And if Ashley really cared about stopping the prank, she would have gone straight to the room Mike and the others were waiting in, instead of pretending to look around like an idiot.” Chris wanted to say something, to call Sam a liar because none of that was true, but he didn’t get the chance because she was looking at Josh and started talking again.

“Josh, you were their brother. You should have been there for them. You should have made your parents to continue looking for them instead of giving up in like a month. This is your fault as much as theirs!” She whirled around to face Matt. “And you Matt, why weren’t you there? You were close to Hannah. You should have been there, you could have stopped them. Or maybe you would have joined the prank too; just to please Emily I’m sure.” She shook her head, staring at everyone. “So you see, this prank was necessary to make you all see your actions and how they resulted in the death of Hannah and—” She took a deep breath. “—the death of Hannah and Beth. It was your entire fault! You murdered them!” She glared at them. Her tone was serious and cold, like she had practiced saying this countless times.

“That was why I planned all of this, and oh what a spectacle it was.” She chuckled. “To see you all so scared and hopeless, begging for mercy, puking, and making a mess of yourselves… That’s what Beth probably felt that night, that’s what Hannah had to go through.” She paced around aimlessly. “It wasn’t easy; I had to come back to this shitty place a lot of times to set everything up. To think Bob and Melinda like me enough to give me a key to this place…” Sam ignored Josh’s widened eyes. “And I have to confess, I wasn’t expecting you two to change boyfriends like you share clothes.” She said, looking at Jess and Emily with contempt.

“Some people would call it revenge, but that’s not what I did all of this.” She looked at the floor next, deep in thought. ”You needed to understand, to feel what they felt. You needed to feel what _I_ felt.” She raised her head, her eyes accusing and angry. “Beth and I would have told you that we were together that night. I was gonna tell you all that we were girlfriends like she wanted to, but you all ruined it. You ruined everything! She cared about all of you enough to come out to you, but no, you had to kill them. You took her away from me.” She whispered the last part and closed her eyes.

Josh couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He felt so many things all at once. Pain, guilt, regret, sadness, contempt. He looked around at everyone and they all seemed surprised and guilty. He saw regret on everyone’s faces, and he couldn’t help but agree with most of what Sam was saying. After all, he spent a lot of time blaming his friends and himself. Even more so now, after what Sam told him.

But after that last revelation, all he could feel was betrayal. He felt betrayed by Sam and his sister, but mostly Beth. She knew how hard he was crushing on Sam since he was 14 and she just stabbed him in the back like that and didn’t even had the _decency_ to tell him?

He was so mad at the fact that Sam never stopped his advances and making him believe that he had a chance. How dare Sam blame _him_ , of all people, when she was in the same state like him when things went down?

Josh opened his mouth to argue, but Emily beat him to it.

“Are you fucking serious?! Is this all of this is about?! That you didn’t get your coming out moment?! Bitch, it was so fucking obvious you two were together. You thought you were being subtle? You couldn’t have looked gayer if you puked rainbows and wore flannels all the time!” Emily was so fucking furious. She couldn’t believe what was happening and right now all she wanted was to slap Sam once more.

“Sam, I-I can’t believe you would say something like that to me and-and lie like that to my face, after everything we’ve been through! I’m the one to blame?! You were in the same state as I was and I’m not hearing you feel sorry about it!” Josh was pissed off. “I cared about them, differences and all, and I wish I could have done more, but I was busy being admitted to a mental hospital because of all the guilt and pain I was dealing with, and for you to rub all of this on my face?! Fuck you!” Sam was just staring at him without any response. “And also fuck you for leading me on this whole time! I bet you and Beth had a great time laughing at clueless Josh, didn’t you?!”

He started pacing around, getting angrier by the second. “Stupid Josh follows Sam around, trying to impress her, buying her lunch at school, doing things for her. I bet you enjoyed all that attention huh?! You enjoyed me making an ass out of myself?!” Sam wouldn’t even look at him. It was like she didn’t care what he was saying.

He was so furious at her lack of reaction. He punched the wall next to him. “Say something for fuck’s sake!”

The stranger stopped Josh from punching the wall again. He pulled him by the back of his shirt and threw Josh to the ground next to Chris. "Stay there, boy. Don't hurt yourself." He said gruffly. Josh stood up and tried to approach Sam again, but Chris pulled his arm and shook his head. "Josh, no. Listen to the old man."

The stranger sighed. "So this is why you kids came back to the mountain? For those girls?"

"Yeah... and how the hell did you know so much about them anyway?" Emily said accusingly.

"Because I saw them both that night. I saw them fall."

"What?! Why didn't you save them?! If you did they will be still alive now!" Chris couldn’t believe what he was hearing. _The old man was there that night and he just let them fall?!_

"I tried to help. I tried to pull them up together when the branch snapped and they just fell. I thought they died falling from that height. But I thought wrong." He still felt guilty about it, about not checking if one of them survived. He was so sure they couldn’t, not from that height, but he should have known better.

"I-I found Beth's head, jacket, and grave markers down in the mine... did you do that?" Chris asked, feeling slightly nauseous at the thought of Beth's rotting head.

"No. I didn't go to the mine until a few months after. I was chasing a new Wendigo, the one I thought I've killed when those girls fell that night, but it didn't make sense because it shouldn't have a new host unless a human was committing cannibalism."

"W-what do you mean?" Chris frowned.

"I was chasing a new wendigo to the mine because the wendigo that I killed possessed a new host... the girl that fell from the cliff."

"What?! So you're saying that Hannah ate a human?!" Chris was flabbergasted. _No! No way!_

"More than that, boy. She dug up the other girl's grave and ate her." The stranger rubbed his face tiredly.

"Jesus, are you fucking kidding me right now?! No fucking way!" Chris shouted. _This can’t be happening for fuck’s sake, after everything… No, this must be a sick joke!_

"You can see it for yourself." He took a pile of papers from his bag and gave it to Chris. He took it and started to read it, recognizing Hannah’s handwriting.

**Day 1**

**My little sister is dead. The fall killed her... I watched the color drain from her face. My leg is broken. I'm all alone, stuck here with Beth's body. Someone will come soon.**

**Day 5**

**I've never been so HUNGRY. It feels like my stomach is twisting around inside. I took Beth's sweater. Much warmer now. She's still looking out for me.**

**Day 30**

**I'm sorry Beth. I have no choice. I'm DYING. It's the only way I can survive any more. If someone finds this I'm SORRY. I had to. I had no choice. Forgive me Beth. I'm sorry.**

**Day 33**

**My hands feel unclean.**

**My nails fell out PUSHED OUT**

**I am aching but no more COLD NO PAIN**

**I am getting stronger!!**

**Day Unknown**

**The entire page was crisscrossed with dark black lines, with the faint view of the words, "HUNGER HUNGER HUNGER" in capital letters.**

_Jesus fucking Christ, it was all true, oh god, Hannah, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I can’t deal with this now, fuck..._ Chris was a sobbing mess by the time he was done reading, the thought of Hannah and Beth suffering so bad down there stabbed him like a knife embedded in his gut.

He passed the journal to Matt who was closer to him while ignoring Josh’s outstretched hand, trying to save him from that heartbreak for at least a few minutes.

Matt took it with a lot of doubt inside him. He just couldn’t imagine what the guy said was true but he started reading anyway.

His eyes opened wide _. Fucking Christ, no, this can’t be real_... He tried to speak, to say something to Josh or Sam, but it hurt too much to even open his mouth. He wiped his tears and handed the journal to Jess, who was looking at him with fear.

Jess took the journal. She was afraid to read it, guilt clawing at her sides.

She read Hannah’s last word shakily, her tears ruining a bit of the corners of the pages. “Fuck no, this can’t be real...” She whimpered. She didn’t want to believe it, but the proof was in front of her. _This is all my fault, fuck, I’m so sorry Hannah, Beth, I’m so sorry, if I could do anything to take back that night, I would. I would, I promise…_

Emily took the diary from Jess’ hands since the blonde was too busy crying to pass the journal. _Come on, it can’t be true, they’re all pussies_.

She started to read it and had to stifle her gasp. _Oh no, fuck no, god, Hannah_... She was fighting hard not to cry. Guilt hit her like a truck and she was mad at herself for feeling like that. She chose to be angry at the stranger instead. She glared at him and passed the journal to Josh.

Josh took it with trembling hands. He was hoping with all his might that what the stranger just told them wasn’t real and that everything was just a cruel joke as part of Sam’s plan. He was sweating, but he started to read the journal anyway.

"No no no, this is not real, this is fake, you're lying!" He threw the journal at the stranger. "This is a part of your prank, right Sammy?!" He turned to Sam who stared at them wide-eyed. "Sam! Say something!" _This can’t be real, this is not happening. Nope. No, no, no!_

Sam gingerly picked the journal from the floor and shakily read it. Her eyes widened and she started to sob.

"No... Hannah... why..." _She… she ate her, she ate Beth.._. Sam buried her face in her hands.

Josh could hear his heartbeat in his ears. "Sammy...? Please, say something... Please tell me this is just part of your prank…" He pleaded. _This is not real, no way no way no way—_

"Josh." She sobbed. "Do you think I would do this to you? To myself? She's..." Sam took a deep breath. "Hannah ate Beth, and you think I would make that up?! Are you fucking insane?!" How dare he accuse her of doing something so horrible?! She just confessed she was in love with Beth for fuck’s sake!

God, Beth. She deserved so much more than ending up as an emergency ration.

"So-so my sisters were there, and Hannah starved and nearly died before she ate Beth?" Josh stared blankly at Sam and the stranger. The stranger nodded slightly.

"NO! THIS IS NOT REAL! THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED! THEY'RE DEAD! HANNAH DIDN'T TURN TO THE MONSTER THAT KILLED MIKE! SHE DIDN'T EAT BETH!" Josh roared and clutched his head. "Why are you tormenting us with this fake journal?! Do you hate us that much for messing around in your mountain?!" He turned to the stranger who looked at him with so much pity in his eyes.

Chris stepped forward and touched Josh's shoulders gently. "Josh, why would he do that? He didn't even know us before today." He gulped. "It's all true, Josh." He said quietly. He was so afraid and sad for his best friend losing any sanity he had left.

"No, no, no. Don't you see, Cochise? Beth is standing right there, what are you talking about?" Josh pointed to the space besides Matt and smiled widely. "Beth? Beth, I'm sorry, I don't know why would they say things like that about you and Hannah, I mean obviously it's not real, right?" He chuckled.

"Josh, Beth is dead. It's just a hallucination—" _God, Josh, I’m so sorry._

"No, Chris! Why are you being like this? Look, even Hannah is here. She's waving at you. Can't you see her? Hi Han—"

"JOSH! BETH'S DEAD AND HANNAH'S A FUCKING MONSTER! GET IT THROUGH YOUR SKULL!" Sam suddenly screamed. She couldn’t handle any more of this. _Why can’t he understand? Why can’t he see? She’s dead and Hannah is a human eating monster. Beth’s dead. Fuck, she’s dead._

Josh was overwhelmed. He looked at Sam and the others. They were all crying and looking at him with pity.

Everything came crashing down to him. Beth's dead and Hannah had to eat her corpse just to stay alive. _No, no, no, no, why god?! Why would you do this to them?! Is it not enough that I’ll never see them again?! Why do you have to make Hannah ate Beth and became a monster this is not real they’re dead they’re dead they’re dead—_

Josh wailed. He howled and dropped to the floor while clutching his head. He cried and mumbled the twins' names over and over again, rocking back and forth.

Chris dropped down beside Josh and touched his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. Josh turned to Chris and clung at him, crying. _Oh Josh, I’m so sorry, I’m so, so sorry_.

Chris hugged him and put his chin on top of Josh's head. He felt tears running down his cheeks for Hannah and Beth’s fate. He hoped with all his heart that Ashley won’t share the same fate with them.

Sam stared at the two crying boys on the floor. She couldn't help but chanted _Beth's dead, Beth’s dead, Beth’s dead_ inside her head over and over again. Her girlfriend died and her best friend – her girlfriend’s twin – ate her. How much would life fuck her in the ass? First her parents burned to death in a house fire when she was ten years old, last year her girlfriend and best friend went missing, and now she found out that her best friend is a monster and she had her girlfriend for dinner.

It felt like every feeling punched her in her gut at once. Guilt, regret, pain, agony, and anger rolled into one and just hit her.

They were gone.

Beth’s gone and she’ll never see her again. She’ll never hear her laugh or kiss her lips or fool around with her or telling jokes and arguing about the dumbest things so Beth could pretend she was upset and Sam could just kiss her nose and make everything better. Never, ever again.

She loved Beth so much. She was so good to her. She still remembered having the longest crush on her before she acted on it and it was only because Beth finally cornered her one day and asked her how long she’s gonna wait until she kissed her.

Beth had always been the straightforward one. She never took anybody’s shit and Sam loved her for that. She wasn’t into PDA or cuddling that much, but she did it because she knew Sam liked it. She had the time of her life just hanging out with Beth, lying on her stomach and looking up to her as she passionately ranted about how Emily beat her test score in Chemistry or gloated when she kicked Sam’s ass at Tekken. Just looking at her and being in her presence was more than enough for Sam, so she frequently just giggled and buried her face in Beth’s stomach while Beth laughed at her antics and stroking her face and hair.

She won’t accept that she lost Beth forever. She couldn’t.

She frantically looked around the room until her eyes fell upon the stranger. “You could have saved them! You were the one that was closer to saving them and you didn’t do anything! You failed! You fucking failed them and now Beth’s fucking _dead_! She’s dead because of you!” With her anger overtaking her, she jumped at the stranger and started to punch and kick him, screaming “You killed them!” over and over.

He didn't even try to dodge the girl's attack. He knew that he deserved it and some more, for not trying hard enough to save them and for not looking hard enough to find them when they fell into the mine. If only he had gone down to the mine, maybe he could have saved the girl and stop her from eating her sister. He should have known better.

Emily did understand Sam a little better now and she kind of felt bad for her even if her hate for the blonde was stronger right now, but she also knew that her only chance of survival was the stranger, so she stood up and approached Sam to try to stop her. But Sam wouldn't listen and kept hitting the stranger. So Emily slapped her again, this time on her opposite cheek. After the slap Sam just started sobbing and fell to the floor in a fetal position, chanting _she's dead, she's dead_.

Suddenly, they heard a banging noise and a loud screech from the door that led to sanatorium. They froze.

“RUN!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... no Sanatorium again. Because that was a genius idea by Mike. Hell no. 
> 
> That's why this chapter was basically filler and revelation.


	11. Repentance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone shall repent for what they've done in the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 months without update omg ;_; I'm so busy with work, who knows being a subtitle translator eats up all my time? 30 minutes show takes like 8 hours to complete -_-
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

**ONE HOUR UNTIL DAWN**

**ASHLEY**

**MINES**

**06:24**

 

Ashley grunted when she finally hit the ground. She spent who knows how long trying to find her way in the dark.

She held still for a minute when her vision started spinning. Her headache getting worse as the time passed by, and she was pretty sure she had a concussion, like, twice, from when that maniac hit her at the lodge and when she hit her head on the windows when the tower fell. _Jesus, I hope the adrenaline helps me get out of this place or I’m going to pass out soon._

Thinking about the tower made her stomach clench. _Oh god, Chris… I really hope he’s okay, but that fall…_

Did she make the right choice to jump to the ledge instead of trying to pull him up?

Or did she just send him to his death?

Ashley bit her lips and wiped her tears. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if she just stood there crying. She needed to get out of here, fast.

She looked around and gasped when she saw a lantern on top of a table. She turned it on and nearly wept with joy when it worked. _Finally, something going in my favor for once!_

She was so wrapped up in her joy of finding a source of light that she couldn’t dodge a shovel to her face.

“Ow! What the—Mike?!” _Great, like I needed another hit to my head._ She winced and held her bloody forehead with one hand.

Ashley gasped when she saw the tall jock in front of her. He was bloodied and battered and bruised all over, he had no shirt on inside the green jacket that he wore, and upon closer inspection she could see a few of his fingertips started turning black and some of his fingernails were torn.

“Mike, wh-why are you here?! What happened?!” Ashley said in panic.

Mike looked dazed before he focused his eyes on Ashley. “Yeah…” He whispered. He saw a bloody gash on Ashley’s forehead from his shovel earlier and averted his eyes. “Sorry…”

“Never mind that! Look, Mike…” Ashley tugged at his sleeve to make him look at her. “There’s been something going on tonight. There’s someone messing with us up here, and-and…” She whimpered. “And he killed Sam…”

“No…” He couldn’t believe what Ashley was saying.  

Sam’s _dead_?

No. No way.

That girl was the most resourceful person he knew—apart from himself and Emily—and there’s no way she would die just like that.

He couldn’t accept the fact that his partner left him without saying goodbye.

Emily and Jess would have had a fit if they heard him referred to Sam like that, but he didn’t mean partner in a romantic sense (apart for casual daydreams, but that’s another story). More like a partner in crime, since for some reason they could anticipate each other’s train of thoughts, which was why they were paired so often in school assignments and in PE. _Especially_ in PE, now that he thought about it.

He remembered that he often joked with Sam that their relationship was like something out of a buddy cop movie. He was the smartass wisecracking one and she was the no-nonsense straight-laced one. She laughed at the comparison and punched his shoulder jokingly (but good lord does it hurt, her size wasn’t an indicator of her strength, at all).

But then again, why would Ashley lie to him? She wouldn’t gain anything out of it, and he knew the small redhead was a bad liar.

Which meant what she said was true.

_Goddamnit, Sam._

He thought she would live long enough for them to do something cool and epic together before she took off to save baby seals or something. Starring in an action movie, maybe. Or making things explode.

His chest felt painful with the knowledge of Sam’s death, but this wasn’t the time to mourn her. Ashley needed to know about that… that monster that brought him here.

“Ash… it’s not someone… it’s something…” Fuck, even talking was hard. He must’ve lost like a half of his blood already. He felt so dizzy it was a struggle to even stand.

“Mike, wh-what are you talking about?”

“A… monster… brought me here…” He whispered. There was no way he could ever forget the monster that dragged him here. He wondered if Jessica knew about the monster.

Oh god, Jessica.

He knew that she chased after him. He was also pretty sure he saw her before the cave-in happened. God, she probably thought he was dead. He thought so too, until he woke up and felt his entire body hurting, especially his right leg. It was probably broken.

He wondered if Jessica was still alive after she chased him to the mine. If Emily and the others were alive because who knows where the monster was? It could be killing all of his friends right now.

“Mike, wh-what monster? I-I think you hit your head too hard, it’s all because of that sick freak up there!” Ashley looked terrified at the idea of a literal monster somewhere up here.

She knew that she was the jumpy and cowardly one in the group and most of the time, she accepted it. Not everyone can be brave like Sam or Mike. Her imagination was rich and sometimes she was scared of things that her brain conjured. She hated the supernatural, and with Mike talking about a monster that brought him here?

Yeah, no thanks.

“Ash… listen… to me…” Mike rasped. He didn’t blame her for not believing him. He’d do that too if he wasn’t the one that saw the monster with his own eyes.

“Look, Mike, we gotta get out of here now. Can you move?” She asked while flicking her gaze to Mike’s leg. She could see his right leg bent unnaturally and the amount of blood on his body was terrifying.

“Yes…” _I can make it, I know how bad it looks, but I know myself, and I can do this._

“C’mon, Mike.”

They walked together slowly because of Mike’s broken leg and because Ashley’s lantern didn’t reach far. They heard a screech and Ashley gulped, fearing what Mike said was true.

They stopped and after a minute of no screeching, they continued to walk. They came across a caved in elevator.

“Look at that. Some sort of cave-in here.” Ashley wondered aloud.

“That… was me.” Mike said quietly. _How the fuck am I still alive?_

“What?!” Ashley whipped her head to face Mike. He looked at her dazedly. “I… fell… through that roof…” He whispered.

“You fell this far?!” Ashley put her hands in front of her mouth in shock _. How the hell is Mike still alive?! That explains how messed up he looks…_

He nodded. Ashley cringed and muttered, “That makes two of us.”

“What?”

“I fell off a fire tower down here. I was looking for help from the rangers via radio with Chris there, but suddenly the tower fell. I tried to save Chris, but…” She sobbed. “But he fell even further than me. All that because I jumped to safety instead of trying to pull him up! I’m so selfish! Useless!”

Mike felt bad for Ashley. He wasn’t close to her or Chris but he always thought that if Chris could man up and tell Ashley already they both would be cute together. Hearing the girl break down over her almost boyfriend made him sad.

It reminded him of Jess.

“Ash… don’t… cry… I’m sure… you’ve made… the right decision… given the… circumstances…” He rasped. He touched her shoulder in sympathy, and she leaned on his hand while sobbing.

She calmed down after a few minutes of crying. She threw him a grateful smile and grabbed his arm to lead him. _I hope you’re right, Mike. I really do._

They continued to walk when they heard a screech from what it felt like right behind them. They flinched and decided to hide because no way they could run in Mike’s condition.

They could feel the air changing. There was _something_ behind them and they didn’t know if it could see them or not. They kept as still as possible in hope that it wouldn’t see them if they stood still.

A rotten smell accompanied whatever the thing was and Ashley nearly puked again. Fortunately, the thing went away soon and they could breathe easily once more. _Oh my god what the fuck was that?!_

She noticed Mike nearly fell and quickly caught him with all of her strength. She barely stopped him from falling—he was way taller and bigger than her.

“It hurts…” He mumbled while clutching his left arm.

“I’m so sorry, Mike. God, you need to go to a hospital soon.” Ashley touched Mike’s right arm to lead him again only for him to wince again. She bit her lips and gestured at him to follow her.

She broke into a small run, but Mike limped behind her very slowly. She turned to wait for him when she saw the thing behind Mike staring at the two of them. She choked down a scream and quickly pulled Mike with her.

Deep in her mind, she knew she could just abandon him. After all, when you were chased by a bear, you didn’t need to outrun them, you just need to outrun someone else. And Mike’s injuries were slowing her down…

Ashley felt disgusted by her morbid and cruel thought. _There’s no way I will abandon Mike! We’ll make this through together!_

She quickly broke a particularly fragile looking plank on the side of the mines and pulled Mike with her. They were outside, and the thing followed them. They were frozen in fear.

In the moonlight, they could see the thing very clearly now. It looked emaciated with abnormally long legs and arms, bulged eyes, big head, sharp teeth, and those nails were the ones that scared Ashley the most.

 _Please don’t look this way please don’t look this way please don’t look this way_ , Ashley chanted in her head.

Miraculously, it didn’t turn in their direction and went back to the mine instead. They both took deep breaths of air, grateful of their massive luck that the thing didn’t notice them. Ashley rubbed at her right arm, the one she broke the plank with.

“Ash… look…” Mike pointed out. Ashley squinted and she could see the shadow of the lodge.

She nearly cried when she realized they weren’t far from the lodge. All she wanted now was to go back there and regroup. She could worry about the maniac later.

She held Mike’s arm and they slowly made their way back together.

 

**JESS**

**WASHINGTON LODGE**

**06:36**

 

They ran with Josh dragged a half-catatonic Sam with him. The banging grew harder and the screeches grew louder.

"I thought there was only one wendigo out here!" Emily shouted accusingly at the stranger.

"It should be one! It must be the sanatorium wendigoes!"

"What?! You're saying that there are wendigoes in the sanatorium?!" Jess paled. Oh _my god, how close I was to those things?!_

"Yeah, but I restrained them!" _Or at least thought I did. Oh god I hope the wolves are okay…_

“Jesus, how many are they?!"

"Twelve!"

"No fucking way, I didn't see them when I went there!" _Twelve?! What in the hell?!_

"Consider yourself lucky, kid!"

The stranger kicked the door towards the lodge open and they all ran upstairs. They could hear the screeching growing closer.

"GET OUTTA HERE NOW!"

They ran as fast as they could with the stranger on the rear. He kept looking back, gripping his shotgun.

They're here.

Three of them.

God save them all.

He had to save these kids. He had to. He owed them that much for his failure with the sisters.

Jess, Emily, and Matt found themselves froze in the living room while Chris, Sam, Josh, and the stranger stopped in their tracks on the stairs.

"Don't move." He whispered. _Shit, if these kids don’t listen to me, we’re all fucked._

He saw another wendigo hanging on the chandelier in the living room. It roared when it saw the three other wendigoes leaping to its view.

_Well, if this isn’t some crazy ass good luck then I don’t know what it is._

It jumped down to the ground and stood on its legs. The other wendigoes surrounded it. The nearest one pounced on it, but it shrugged it off easily and threw it across the room hitting the wall near the fireplace.

They all could smell leaking gas after the collision.

He had an idea, but he needed someone to help him with it. _Shit, all of these kids are either injured or too shocked to be useful. Teenagers, I swear to fuck._

Except maybe...

_The braided blonde wasn't hurt, was she?_

He slowly walked to her, mindful to not attract the wendigoes’ attention.

"Hey, blondie!" He whispered to Jess, who was staring at the wendigoes fighting each other with wide eyes.

"What?" She whispered from the side of her mouth. _Oh my god what the hell is happening right now?!_

"I need your help." He told her quietly but with enough emphasis to make her understand how serious this is.

"Shouldn't we be the one saying that to you?!" _Oh god, if this guy is asking for help, then we’re really screwed!_

"Look, I have an idea to get us all out of here." He tried not to flinch when the wendigoes screeched right above him. Years of practice helped with that, but in all that time, he had never witnessed wendigoes fighting each other like this. They usually just mind their own business, ignoring the other’s hunts.

"What idea?!" Jess said after the wendigoes turned their attention to the bigger one.

"I can burn them all to death with my flamethrower, and combined with the gas leak it'll be a fireball here, but I need you to distract them so your friends can escape."

"Me?! W-why me?!"

Jess was scared.

She was never picked to do anything important, everyone thought of her as the dumb blonde that was there to look pretty, and to be honest, she liked sticking to that role.

Life was easier that way.

"Cause you're the only one that not injured."

"B-but..." _I can’t do this… he should pick someone else, someone smarter. Like Em._

"Listen, kid, do you want to get out of here or not?"

"Yeah, but..." _Of course I do, but if you trust ME with this, I’ll fuck it up. I’m not good enough._

"Then do it." He said firmly. _I’m not here to deal with teenage drama for fuck’s sake._

Jess bit her lips and gulped. If she failed, all of them will die, but if she succeeded, she was most likely gonna be dead too.

She nodded. She had to try for her friends.

 For Emily.

_I can do this. This is my chance to prove I can be useful and that I’m worth something, and after tonight and everything we’ve been through… After all I’ve done today… Yes, I can do this._

She subtly turned to face Emily, who stared at her with tears in her eyes, having heard the stranger's plan.

The raven-haired girl mouthed 'no' at her. _I just got you back, I can’t lose you now. Please don’t do this,_ Emily thought, too afraid to say anything because of the monsters, but hoping her face showed what she was thinking.

She looked terrified, and it was not a flattering look on Emily. Jess preferred Emily's resting bitch face instead of this expression.

The cheerleader mouthed 'it’s okay’ back at her. _I’m doing this for you, for all of them._

She turned back to the stranger and nodded, filled with determination.

"On my mark, kid." _This better fucking work._

The wendigoes kept fighting and Jess gagged when the big wendigo pulled apart another wendigo's head, and she didn’t know if she should be glad because there’s one less monster after them, or mourn because it meant there’s one less distraction for the big one.

"Now!"

Jess ran across the room, intentionally making the wooden board creak in the process. The big wendigo turned to her and roared. She instantly stopped and when its attention was on her, Josh and Sam ran through the door outside.

Jess was relieved. At least they made it out and finally safe.

She nearly pissed herself when the wendigo jumped near her though, but the stranger diverted its attention by stepping on the creaky floorboard and shouting at it.

"Hey!"

The big wendigo turned to the stranger and roared at him. Chris ran outside following Josh and Sam.

Jess quickly hid behind a pillar. The wendigo heard it and jumped right beside her. It screeched right in her ear and Jess could feel her heart dropping to her stomach _. Jesus fucking Christ that smell, need a dentist much?_

_This is so not the time to be thinking that, what the fuck. It was so putrid though._

She could see Emily and Matt running from her peripheral vision and felt herself nearly crying from relief. _At least Em's safe now, thank god._

The stranger readied his flamethrower and ran near the doorway. He gestured towards Jess to run.

It’s now or never.

Jess took a deep breath and took off running.

Two of the wendigoes were behind her. _Shit, shit, shit!_

One of them pushed the other just as it was close to grabbing Jessica. She was able to make it outside when the stranger fired up his flamethrower to burn the wendigo alive.

Jess fell face first into the snow from the explosion. Her back was burning and she quickly rolled around to douse the fire with snow. Her ears were ringing and she couldn't hear anything. She groaned and stared at the burning lodge in disbelief.

_But the old man was still there... Oh god, he gave his life for us, and I didn’t even know his name…_

Jess stood up numbly, trying to hold back her tears for a stranger who gave his life for a bunch of kids he didn’t even know.

She felt someone tackling her and she fell again to the ground with an 'oomph!' and a weight over her.

It was Emily.

She was shouting something at her, but she couldn't hear anything beyond the ringing in her ears. “What?!” Jess asked her, or at least thought she did because she couldn’t even hear herself.

From what she could read in Emily's lips, she called her a fucking moron, though. Jess put her hand on Emily's mouth to stop her rant and just smiled at her. _You’re a fucking moron too, and I’m also glad to see you alive._

Emily took the hint and just hugged her while crying on her shoulder _. You stupid idiot you could have fucking died, how dare you do this to me!_

She didn’t understand why she was getting so emotional; it must have been the fucking long night getting to her, the fact that they miraculously were safe, and of course the fact that not only one, but two people were willing to give their lives to save hers.

She hugged Jess even harder. Jess squeezed her back.

The blonde looked around and saw all of them around her. Josh, Sam, and Chris were crying and hugging each other, and Matt passed out, unaware of everyone.

She just stood there enjoying Emily's warmth and her smell. _Jesus, even all sweaty and gross she still smells good_ , she thought while taking a deep breath. She looked around, noticing two silhouettes walking towards them.

It was Mike and Ashley.

She gasped when she saw Mike's condition. He looked so pale and it looked like he put all of his weight on Ashley, leaning on her for support.

She couldn’t believe her eyes. _Oh my god, it’s really him! He’s alive, Mike’s alive!_

Jess quickly shook Emily and gestured towards Mike. Emily turned around and gasped when she saw what Jess was pointed out. They ran together to hug him.

Ashley was smothered to near death with a four way hug with Josh, Sam, and Chris.

Chris was crying hard, clinging to Ashley and squeezing her as hard as he could without hurting her. He was so sure he had lost her.

Suddenly, the hug was interrupted and before he could miss her warmth, a pair of dry, chapped lips pressed against his. He closed his eyes, put his hands around Ashley’s neck and kissed her hard until they had to stop and gasped for air.

It wasn’t a perfect kiss. Far from it, actually, because they were both a crying mess.

But it was perfect for them.

He finally opened his eyes, only to see Ashley opening hers. She gave him the widest smile he had ever seen coming from her.

“I thought I lost you Chris, god, you don’t know how badly I regretted not trying harder to sav-“ Chris interrupted her now, kissing her first this time.

“I thought I lost you too.”

They gazed deeply into each other’s eyes and ignoring that their friends’ eyes were on them. They just smiled and pressed their foreheads against each other.

"Hey..." Mike mumbled while hugging them back with his good arm, getting his eyes off that cute scene. _Dorks._ “It’s okay ladies, take it easy, there’s enough of me to go around.” He joked, wincing from the pain of their strong hug on top of his injuries.

Emily slapped his chest and he winced some more at the contact. It made Jess cry even harder, but the only thing on her mind right now was _we're all alive. We all made it._

Jess felt the wind blowing stronger than what was normal and she looked to the sky.

Two helicopters were flying above them and she had never felt so relieved in her life.

They had all survived until dawn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, Stranger :/ And I forgot to include Matt, which is why I went back and just have him passed out because I don't know how to include him... Sam, too... orz
> 
> Mike and Sam's relationship vibe was inspired by [Strictly Professional](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4819172) by mia_ametista. I like male-female friendship :')
> 
> Finally I wrote someone doing 'the forehead thing'. Headbutt of Love, as TV Tropes would say.
> 
> Yes, Jess did what Sam did in the game. She's the least injured and the most able character (as in, she can run without getting winded, unlike most of them) available. Besides, she was underused in game as it is, why not give her a chance?
> 
> Shitty action scenes, I know, but if you've read this story since the beginning, you probably know that I can't write action worth shit, lol. (I can barely write anyway...) So, sorry if it's anti-climactic or anything.
> 
> Epilogue shall be up in... ah, hell, I don't want to promise. But I will put it up.


	12. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened after the horrible night on the mountain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post this last week, but alas, life happened. At least I'm only late a week instead of months!
> 
> Enjoy the epilogue of this story.

They were brought to a hospital for treatment and had to stay overnight. Mike was immediately admitted to the ER because he lost almost two liters of blood, not to mention other injuries that he suffered.

The others were sitting in the waiting room, since they weren't in immediate danger. Jess herself was brought to see a doctor right after they found out she got burned and she couldn't hear anything, just a faint beep that rang in her ears and hadn't stopped since the explosion hours ago.

She got out of the room with a sigh. The doctor said he couldn’t decide whether her hearing loss will be permanent or not, and he gave her a letter for her to give to a doctor in America. He told her to go to the doctor soon after she got back for medical monitoring. She also had to apply ointment for the burn on her back every day for at least a week or more if she still felt tenderness and slight pain.

At least that's what Emily had typed in her phone for her to read. A nurse had already applied it, but she'll need to do it again in 3 hours.

_This is gonna be a long day._

She was sick with worry for Mike and her friends, but especially Mike since he was a mess and the doctors hadn't let any of them know how he was doing. Emily and Sam had agreed to donate blood to help him, since they were the least injured and they both had the same blood type as Mike, which was A.

It took some convincing for Emily, but Sam agreed right away. Or at least it seemed like she had agreed, she just nodded with a blank stare and didn't even flinch when the nurses took the blood.

Scary.

After all that happened today, she felt kind of sorry for her and she could understand a bit why she would do something like that. Being in love and grieving can make you do the dumbest shit, or that's what people said anyway.

That didn't mean she wasn't pissed and furious at her, though. She would kick her ass when Sam wasn't behaving like a zombie like right now, and soon after she can stand without getting woozy.

She hoped to everything that was holy in the universe that her ears will be fine as soon as possible. She dreaded the possibility of going deaf. Sure, there’s a hearing aid or operation, but who knows if she can afford them? Or what if it didn’t affect her at all?

Scratch kicking Sam’s ass, she will strangle the bitch if she can’t hear anymore.

Jess swallowed the lump of dread in her throat and forced herself not to think about it for now.

She looked around at her friends, catching Emily’s eyes, who sat beside her looking at her with a worried expression that she then tried to hide with a scowl. _Idiot_ , Jess thought fondly, rolling her eyes at the scowling girl.

Emily continued scowling and gave her a death glare only to flinch because of her black eye. She wouldn't admit it, but she was really worried about Jess and her hearing and burned skin.

She had to accompany her with the doctor and explain what happened since Jess couldn't hear anything. She pretended she was her family to go with her. The doctor didn't buy it, but he went along with it anyway, after he gave her a knowing look that made Emily uncomfortable. A nurse gave her an ice pack for her eye and after donating blood, she was waiting there like everyone else, with a box of orange juice in one hand and a package of peanut butter cookies in the other.

She was relieved because she didn't get it as bad as the others, just a mild concussion and a black eye and the doctors had told her, Matt, Ashley, Josh, and Chris to not to sleep and watch each other because they all had gotten concussions.

She let Matt sleep for a bit though, waking him up every 10 minutes. His jaw looked worse for wear than before. The doctors had said it was cracked and burned, so they gave him two ibuprofen pills and a tube of burn ointment for now. A dentist would have to check him later to see if everything was okay inside. They had checked his right ear as well because it was still ringing, but thankfully it wasn’t as bad as Jess'. The doctors gave him a letter as well like Jess so he could get monitored when he got back to America.

Chris got called next and Ashley stood up wanting to go with him, but the nurse wouldn't let her. He was told to sit on the bed in the middle of the room and a doctor checked him up. She tended the bite on his shoulder while Chris flinched and told him that thankfully it wasn't infected.

Chris sent a mental thank you for the Stranger and blinking back tears when he thought about him burned to death so that they can escape.

He didn't know what to say when the woman asked him how he got the bite, so he just told them it was a bear. The rescue team didn't believe them when they explained what happened in their way to the hospital anyway, so why waste more breath on that?

The doctor raised her eyebrows, but seeing as Chris didn’t offer any more explanations, she just sighed and cleaned and re-bandaged the bite on his shoulder.

His leg was next. It hurt when the doctor examined it, but she said it wasn't infected or broken, just a swollen kneecap that hurt more than normal because of all the limping and running he did that night.

Thank god for small miracles.

Chris was exhausted and worried about his friends, but part of him was filled with joy for the development of his relationship with Ashley. _Talk about silver linings..._

Once the doctor said it was okay for him to go, he returned to the waiting room and sat between Ashley and Josh.

The doctor called for Ashley next. She squeezed Chris' hand and stood up to enter the room. The first thing the doctor did was tend to the gash on her forehead that had stopped bleeding a while ago. She didn't need stitches either, and all the scratches on her body from the fall were okay and would heal on their own pretty soon. After bandaging her wounds, she sent her on her way with some medicine.

She went back to Chris and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay, just a swollen kneecap, and my bite isn’t infected. How about you?"

"She said I was okay overall and that the gash and scratches will heal quickly, so I'm happy about that. Everything hurts though."

"Yeah, I feel you." Chris put his arm around her and Ashley laid her head on his shoulder.

"How are you doing bro?" He asked Josh, waking him up.

As soon as they got to the hospital, Chris had told them right away about Josh's schizophrenia and the pills he was taking for it. The doctors were kind enough to provide today's dose for him after quickly dialing Josh's psychiatrist to confirm the story. After a night like that, he needed all he could get to be okay.

"I'm okay, I'm just really tired and I just keep thinking about—“Josh rubbed his temple and sighed, his eyes looked distant. “I'm just really tired."

Chris patted him on the leg, a knowing look in his eyes. "I know, bro. We'll talk about this later, okay?" Josh smiled and nodded, grateful. He looked at Sam with a mix of emotions, but she wouldn't meet his gaze.

Josh looked down and leaned his head on Chris’ shoulder, who put an arm around his waist in an effort to comfort him.

He was so, so tired.

Sam was feeling like shit; all the guilt and grief consuming her at once. She didn't dare to look at anyone in their eyes.

_They're all here because of me. Mike's probably gonna die and it's all gonna be my fault._

And the worst part of all is that everyone had it bad, but she was left without a scratch, with the exception of Emily’s stab wound on her shoulder. It throbbed when she moved her arm, but she ignored it.

She deserved it, and more.

She drank a sip of her orange juice, but she ignored her cookies for now. Her stomach felt like it was made from lead.

She would do everything to make it right again, no matter the consequences for her. That's what Beth would want, that's the kind of person Beth fell in love with.

She wanted to be that person again.

The doctor that had picked Mike's case came back to the waiting room and everyone's attention turned to him. He explained that Mike had lost a lot of blood, but that his condition was stable right now. They also had to cut three of his fingers because of the severe frostbite and his right leg and left arm were broken. They did everything they could for him, but there’s a possibility that he will walk with a limp for the rest of his life. His arm wasn’t that bad, although he'll need to get a cast for two months. Right now, he’s asleep under the sedative that they administered for his amputation.

They all collectively sighed in relief and sadness with the news. Emily relayed the message to Jess via phone and the blonde’s eyes started to well up, but she didn’t cry. She just shook her head and put her head on Emily’s shoulder.

The doctor told them to stay in the hospital for a few more hours in case their heads started hurting and left.

They all sat in silence with their thoughts until Emily piped up. “Now what?”

“Huh?” Chris was jolted from his daydreaming.

“We’ll have to call our parents and someone have to pay the bills. I know this is Canada, but we're not actually citizens so it's not free for us, and I bet the hospital already called the police since they probably heard about the burning lodge already.” _Do I have to do everything here?! Ugh, incompetent idiots._

“I’ll confess.” Sam said so quietly they nearly missed it. “I’ll tell them what I did… and I’ll even tell them I burned down the lodge.”

Emily narrowed her eyes. “Oh really, now?” _Dramatic much? Of course this bitch will play the martyr after all she's done._

“Yes. I’ll take full responsibility for causing harm to all of you.” She bowed her head in defeat, trying not to look at Ashley who had stared at her ever since Mike and she were reunited with the group. “They will find evidence anyway.”

“B-but Sammy, the lodge wasn’t your fault! Or what happened to Mike!”

“I know, Josh. But it was my idea to bring you all back here. Not to mention I did hurt most of you.”

“But Sammy…”

“Stop, Josh. I… I have to atone for what I’ve done. I’ve caused enough harm to all of you. Let me do this.”

Josh looked around helplessly. Emily scowled at Sam, Chris was staring at the floor, Matt was still drifting in and out, Jess closed her eyes, and Ashley had tears in her eyes.

“I—“Josh was cut off when Ashley ran off to hug a surprised Sam. The redhead sobbed on Sam’s shoulder and the blonde awkwardly hugged her back.

“Sam, how-how are you still here? I-I thought you were dead! What actually happened?” Now the adrenaline had gone and the euphoria of staying alive had toned down considerably, Ashley realized that she didn’t know what happened to all of them or why the lodge was burned or how Sam was somehow still alive after the psycho had bisected her.

"I thought you were dead and now you're apologizing for I don't know what and I don't understand anything, what happened to you?! How are you alive?!"

Sam hesitantly pulled away from Ashley and quietly explained everything. About the prank, Beth, Hannah, the stranger, and the wendigoes.

Ashley was crying by the time Sam finished her story. She grabbed Sam’s hand and shook her head. “Sam, I-I always had my suspicion about you and Beth. And I’m not saying that what you’ve done was right or justified by any means, but… I guess I could understand what drove you to such an extreme.” The small redhead wiped her tears. “But tell me one thing. Why would you do that to Chris and I? We weren’t even involved! And Matt?!” _I thought I killed her, I thought that I murdered one of my dear friends, but it was all a lie?!_

Sam pulled her hand from Ashley’s grasp and averted her eyes from the younger girl. “Alibi. If you thought I was dead, no one will suspect the psycho was actually me. And about Matt…” She lifted her head to look at Matt, who was dozing off on Emily’s lap.”Well, it was actually for Mike. I didn’t count on Emily and Mike broke up, and Josh to send off Mike and Jess away from the lodge…” She put her head in her hands. “I should’ve stopped the moment we all got separated.”

“Alibi?! Why would you do something so extreme just for an alibi?!” Chris said in heated whisper, aware of the passing nurses and doctors around them. _I nearly died for a fucking alibi?!_

“I don’t know, Chris. I wasn’t thinking straight.” Sam’s replied was muffled. _I'm sorry, I really am. I wish I could show you all how much._

Emily gritted her teeth in annoyance. _And to think I thought Sam was clever at one point._ “Bitch, you weren’t thinking at all. God, you need your head checked.”

“I know, Emily. I know.” _I'm fucked up and everyone in this room knows it._

The black-clad girl sighed. “Look, even if you confess, would the police believe it? At best they will blame it on drunken shenanigans and at worst they will blame it on that old man. Like hell they would believe you attacked Mike or burned down the lodge on your own. I know—“Emily put up her hand to stop Sam’s protest. ”I know you would like to atone or whatever the fuck but we all know the police are incompetent as hell, and they probably wouldn’t want the extra paperwork if they can put all the blame to the dead guy in the lodge. I know I sound callous, but that’s what it is.” She rubbed her temple, feeling the incoming migraine behind her eyes that she was sure wasn’t from the concussion alone.” They couldn’t even found the twins’ remains. I don't even think they tried at all, and I’m pretty sure no one will believe us if we told them about the wendigoes. They’ll either laugh at us or send us to mental hospital.”

“Shit, Em’s right.” Chris sighed and rubbed his glasses with his dirty shirt, a nervous habit that he had. “People will think we got attacked by the old man while we were drunk or something. Jesus.” _That guy did so much for us; he even died saving us, for fuck’s sake. He doesn't deserve this shit._

“But they will look at the old hotel and the shed—“

“No they won’t, moron, not when they have the perfect scapegoat.” Emily blurted out in impatience, irritated by Sam’s hesitation. _Cops are useless no matter the country_. “So shut the fuck up and let’s match our stories.”

“Emily—“

“Sam! Do you want to go to prison that much?!”

“Of course! I—“

“—want to atone, we know, and shut the fuck up about it already! Do you think if you get your ass to prison it will solve everything?! We’ll still have wounds and a fucking shit ton of therapy, half of it thanks to you! So if you think that if you go to prison then it will be golden for us, you’re dead fucking wrong!” Emily growled. “You can start to atone by paying the hospital bills and our therapies. You also have to work for our forgiveness instead of moping behind your martyr attitude!” She was shaking from anger and it jolted Jess awake from where she was laying her head on Emily’s shoulder. Matt was also awake from all the movement. _Like hell I'll let that bitch go to prison and escape from this mess, she at least has to pay for my therapy because it's her fault I'm gonna need it. She'll probably enjoy prison and find her own Alex Vause. Not a chance in hell I’m allowing her that._

Sam shut her mouth and nodded grimly at Emily. They all looked at Sam in a mix of emotions but eventually Chris, Ashley, and Josh nodded.

“Okay, just tell me what to do.”

“Let’s match our stories first. Jess, Matt, and Mike wouldn’t get questioned right off the bat and it will give me time to relay the stories on them. After that, we should call our parents.”

“Oh god, our parents.” Ashley looked pale.

“No one looks forward to it. Jesus, what should I say to Mike’s mother?” _Hello, Mrs. Munroe? I'm Mike's ex girlfriend, calling from Canada. Oh, by the way your son is almost died and has less body parts than he was yesterday._ Emily groaned because she would have to be the one relaying the news since Mike himself was incapacitated and Jess couldn’t even hear anything right now. _Shit, I have to call Matt’s parents and Jess’ mother too, don't I? Fuck, why me?_

“We’ll get grounded for life but at least they’ll know we’re safe?” Chris said dryly. “Let’s worry about it later and just match our stories first.”

So they did. They all agreed to let the blame fall to the stranger, as guilty as it made them since he saved them all from certain death in the lodge. They will say they got attacked by him while drunk and that he then kidnapped Mike when he and Jess were in the cabin, and the rest of them got separated after they tried to get help.

They didn’t mention the prank at all.

Emily explained the plan to Jess and Matt via writing it on her phone and she will tell Mike the story once they could visit him on ER. They didn't understand at first, having missed all the previous conversation, but they went along with it anyway because they trusted Emily.

They had to go to the police station the next day after their final checkups, but Mike stayed behind because he had to rest for two more days until he was well enough to finally go home. They gave their testimonies according to plan and like Emily predicted, they blamed the stranger especially since they found his charred remains in the lodge and all of their stories matched. The police had no choice but to let them go after they were done with the questions, happily closing the case along with Hannah and Beth's, blaming it on the stranger too. Figures.

They called their parents with Emily’s phone since hers were the only one not lost or burned by the lodge's explosion. They were so worried for their kids that most of them took the first plane they could find and got there almost simultaneously a few hours later with the exception of Emily’s parents since they were away overseas on business. Her eyes darkened at the fact, but she didn’t say anything.

She was used to it anyway.

Besides she always got along with Jess' mom, so she secretly enjoyed being fussed over and getting squeezed in a blonde sandwich.

They decided to wait for Mike to wake up and their parents agreed, so they booked rooms in a cheap hotel for them to stay. It was an awkward thing for the girls to sleep together with Sam in the room, but they managed anyway. Jess and Emily slept together in one bed while Ashley shared the other bed with Sam while trying to stay as far away from her as possible because she was still hurt having thought Sam was dead because of her.

Mike woke up the next day and after getting almost smothered to death by his mom; all of the kids came in the room - ignoring the doctor's protest - and contributed to the smothering. They were so glad he was okay and that they could finally go back home.

Eventually they went home after their parents paid for everything they had to pay and signed all the paperwork. They all went to the airport the same day and bought plane tickets, all trying to fit in the same flight.

Emily took the opportunity to explain everything to Mike while holding Jess' hand –the blonde was afraid of flying— while Mike holds her other hand.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. A lot of things passed through his head: hurt, sadness, arousal at the image of Beth and Sam together, and anger.

But mostly he felt sorry for Sam and a little bit guilty for the prank. He didn’t blame her for what happened to him since only his decisions brought him to where he was now, but that didn’t mean he can face her now.

The flight back was calm after that. It was a nice change for the fucked up day they had had two days ago.

They slept for the entire flight. Jess laid her head on Emily's shoulder after finally calmed down when she still couldn’t hear anything. Emily promised her to accompany her to doctor back in America, seeing Mike needs more medical attention too. Mike nodded at her, his eyes soft in gratitude for taking care of his girlfriend while he couldn’t.  She snorted and rolled her eyes, but nodded back. She closed her eyes and leaned on Matt’s shoulder.

On the next row, Chris and Ashley were cuddling - as best as you could in a tourist class - and Josh was sleeping with his head on Chris' back. Sam was sitting next to Josh but facing the other way, her expression worried and she had nightmares behind her closed eyelids.

They finally got to Los Angeles and went to their homes to take a long shower and sleep for hopefully a week.

They were all grounded until middle age, but they didn’t mind it that much. At least they all managed to come back safely, even if not whole.

After that they didn't keep in touch that much. They were exhausted emotionally by everything, so they all decided to start going to see therapists. Sam, Mike, and Josh took a year off their studies because they were too messed up to be able to do both. The others continued, trying their best to get back to where they were.

The path to normalcy would be hard, but somehow they knew that they will manage. And mostly, they were content to have survived. How many people can say that after facing literal monsters?

Some would say people grow stronger together in the face of adversity, others say they grow distant because being close to someone you experience something like that with only brings back bad memories. They didn't know what this meant for their friendship and relationships yet. For now, they only knew one thing.

They will be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, finally this story is over. This was started as a project to staved off boredom from being unemployed, but it grew and I didn't expect it.
> 
> I pulled the whole "Canada healthcare isn't free for non-citizen" outta my ass. Hell if I know, I barely know my own country's healthcare, let alone others. Same with the police procedure.
> 
> As for the long lasting consequences for the kids... well, I planned to explore it in the next story, but I need to take a break from this fandom. I have a shit ton of projects, and the next story for this series is not a high priority right now.
> 
> I have a prequel and a sequel flying around in my head, but it's still too vague to take shape. I'll continue it someday, but not in the near future probably.
> 
> Thanks for reading this shit, I appreciate it :')
> 
> See you guys later!


End file.
